Super Falcons coach, Thomas Dennerby says his target at the 8thFIFA Women’s World Cup finals in France is to surpass the teams best finish at the tournament reports Completesports.com.
The Super Falcons best finish at the FIFA Women’s World Cup is a quarter-final finish.
Speaking during a parley with the media at the team’s camp, Pennsylvania Avenue Hotel, Utako, the Swede insists that having surpassed the target he set for the team at the 2018 Women Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana by winning the title, he also hopes the team will excel in France
“When I arrived in Nigeria, I said that first we needed to qualify for the World Cup at the AFCON, and then try to win it, and we eventually did both,” Dennerby said.
“For France, when you set a target, you have to be honest and set a target that everyone can meet. So far, the only target we have set is that we want to be the very best Nigerian team that has even been to the World Cup. That is our target.”
Dennerby also lauds the Nigeria Football Federation for organising various pre-World Cup camps for the nine-time African champions in preparation for the France 2019 World Cup in June and also shares his experience from the camps.
“I am really happy that the NFF helped us with the camps and the tournaments. We have had China camp, we had Cyprus camp, we go to Spain next week and we also have the final camp in Austria,” he stated.
“One experience from our game against Belgium in Cyprus is that we will not play a lower defence line.”
Dennerby however notes that it is too early to determine how many home –based professionals will be in the World Cup team.
“It is hard to say because it is still three and half months away,” he explains.
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Thomas Dennerby, who once used to be a policeman, has stated his case in the article above as to his target for the Super Falcons in the forthcoming World Cup in France.
The retired midfielder-turn-coach said: “So far, the only target we have set is that we want to be the very best Nigerian team that has even been to the World Cup. That is our target.”
As a former policeman, Dennerby knows all about enforcing the law. That said, the coach now has a different sort of enforcement responsibility on his hands.
He needs to enforce the right sort of mentality, principles, philosophy and approach to ensure that his Falcons dispense their duties on the pitch in a manner that will steer them towards meeting set objectives and targets.
And this is a lofty target that Dennerby has set for himself and his ladies. To hit this target, certain Milestones have to been achieved. These include:
1) Winning more than 2 matches in France.
2) Scoring more than 8 goals in the tournament.
3) Conceding less than 2 goals in the Group stages.
4) Going beyond the second round.
5) Achieving higher than 7th positions at the end of the tournament.
As can be seen from above, coach Dennerby is an ambitious man indeed!
As a former police officer, Dennerby should understand if I see it as a crime should he and his ladies fail to hit the target he himself set.
But with the level of support he is getting from the NFF plus the exposure of his ladies in clubs across the world, the outlook is looking good for the Super Falcons this summer.
Thank you coach. In life, everything is a risk. At first, you need to set your goal and your goal becoming your target and target becoming your achievements and in the end, people rejoice with you.
However, not every goal is achievable that is why life is a risk on its own but with prayer, everything is possible.
Confidence, self believe and never say die spirit will make you conquer everything in life.
So therefore, coach Thomas Dennerby have spoken and we have heard him. All we can do is to support him with prayer because efforts without God is meaningless.
I’m so happy that he knows his stuffs too well and at the same time, it’s good to have a big dream.
His words will encourage his team to do more because he has setting a target for himself to be accomplished in France.
Even in the end if he couldn’t achieved that, his action towards it would says a lot about the gentleman.
Like I always said in most of my comments, I love my Country and I will do my very best to make sure my Country is among the best. So help me God. Amin. I’m wishing you a good outing in France coach. What Super Eagles failed to do, Super Falcons can do it much better. I know say, one day you Super Falcons go make me proud. God bless Nigeria!!!
MORE PREPARATION OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE FALCONS:
As the legion of foreign based Super Falcons stars continue to feature for the clubs ahead of the World Cup in France, the fulcrum of players that will make up the contingent of home based players have the opportunity to step up their own preparations with the 2019 Wafu tournament scheduled to take place in Ivory Coast in May.
The tournament is designed for West African Football Union national team players plying their trades on their respective domestic scenes although foreign-based players apparently featured in the maiden edition.
So, Esther Sunday, who currently play in Turkey, may be registered for the tournament if allowed.
The first edition hosted by Côte d’Ivoire, which featured 8 countries, 16 games and 62 goals was won by Ghana’s Black Queens who defeated the host nation 1-0 in the final.
Our Super Falcons finished in third place after defeating Mali 2-1. Their semi-finals loss to Ghana still haunts me.
The host nation have been drawn in Group A alongside Benin Republic, Senegal, and the Niger Republic while defending champions Ghana will play Mali, Nigeria, and Guinea in Group B.
The 2019 edition of the WAFU Nations Cup is scheduled to kick off in May, in Abidjan the capital of Côte d’Ivoire.
This is more opportunity for the Super Falcons to build team-bonding with Coach Dennerby honing his strategies ahead of the global showpiece in France come June.