Former Super Eagles winger, Garba Lawal has posited that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is in a better position to decide the fate of Super Falcons Head Coach, Randy Waldrum.
Recall that Waldrum led the team to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, where the Nigerian ladies were eliminated in the Round of 16 of the tournament by England via penalty shootout.
With the 2024 Olympic Games qualifiers just around the corner, Lawal in a chat with Completesports.com stated that the NFF is saddled with the responsibilty of deciding his fate and is capable of doing it well in the best interest of Nigerian football.
“The NFF is in a good position to decide Waldrum’s fate as Falcons coach ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games qualifiers,” Lawal said.
“He did a good job with the Super Falcons at the 2023 World Cup even though we lost to England on penalties. However, the team played good football.”
8 Comments
Personally, I would like the NFF to retain Waldrum but I think their ego has been bruised beyond repair.
Those people in the Glass House cannot stand the sight of Waldrum. Yes they acknowledge his good works but the wounds of his pre-world cup tantrums have left terrible scars on the NFF.
He has to go. Shame though, I think he is capable of doing good things with this team next year. We have the Wafcon and then potentially the Olympics. Why not tolerate Waldrum for just another 12 months?
Anyways.
Waldrum was a relic of Pinnick’s administration. Gusau will also want to create his own legacy. So, if he is smart, him and his puppet “technical committee” will look for a coach who can build on what Waldrum achieved.
People including myself can criticise Waldrum. But, getting favourable competitive results (in open play) against Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Canada, Ireland, Australia and England in this administrative climate is not easy feat!
The opposition scarcely gets more daunting.
Who will Gusau lumber us with? Perhaps he can draft Ladan Bosso to try out his skills on women’s football. Or maybe Imama Amapakabo, who knows. Austin Eguavoen tried with the Super Eagles. Will he be given the chance against the Super Falcons? Not to forget coach Bankole Olowokere, perhaps he can win Silverware for the Super Falcons with a practical approach devoid of elegance.
My problem is, the Super Falcons have meaty assignments in the next 12 months. A coach with tactical discipline who knows how to “manage women to bring forth success” is required. Waldrum currently fits the bill. Why then look for another person in such short time?
We are all waiting eagerly as Olympics qualifiers are just round the corner.
NFF always wants to sack a coach when they cannot find money to pay salary arrears. Same happened to Ger ot Rohr and Manfred Hoener Shameful gangsters
Funny stuff happened when the first lady hosted the super falcon at Aso rock.First, the squad was cut down from 23 to just 5 players.All the younger and foreign born players with hot blood and will talk were excluded as they NFF knew that they were aggrieved and angry and will certainly leak their secrets.On the NFF side were Gusau, Sanusi, Anyasi Agu and Aisha Falode.
The first lady gifted each player $10,000 and officials $2,500 each.Each of the players name and account numbers were written down and the money was wired immediately to their accounts.However, they could not reach Nnadozie, Anomonu and one other player to get their account numbers .So the NFF secretary general-Sanusi stepped forward to collect the money on behalf of the 3 players.The first lady refused to give the money to Sanusi and instead handed the money to the team captain Ebi for onward transmission to her 3 colleagues.So the NFF sticky fingers is also known in Aso Rock.
We never know how to manage success otherwise Waldrum continuation is a no brainer.But he won’t lack suitors.South Africa, Zambia, Morocco, Canada, Ireland or even his native US whose coach resigned today will be waiting in the wings.
why not draft the man as SE coach.? at least, the defensive frailty that normally plaque us in international games will be solved.
Frankly, I saw this coming. It was obvious to me even before a ball was kicked to start the world cup, that Waldrum was likely going to be fired. He would be relieved of his job, even if he had won the world cup.
If he remains on the job, it would be something of a miracle.
NFF ONIGBESE have declared him persona non grata, and if push comes to shove, they are prepared to put Nigeria’s Olympic aspirations in jeopardy, just to massage their bloated egos.
Besides, this is a coach they lambasted and labelled “Nigeria’s worst coach ever”. To now have to swallow those words and retain him would be a pill too bitter to swallow. Unless of course, they are forced to swallow that pill.
How do we go about forcing the pill down their corrupt throats without incurring FIFA’s wrath?
If we are serious about building on the team’s recent performance, Waldrum needs to stay. If he leaves voluntarily or involuntarily, a coach of the same or better pedigree must be engaged. Of course, it’s unlikely that NFF will succeed in getting a quality coach to replace Waldrum, due to salary nonpayment wahala.
So the vicious cycle continues.
I support Waldrum.
Waldrum must stay to continue to improve Super Falcons. We believe in him. The players believe in him
The NFF would be stupid to sack a man who made history at the World Cup for not losing a game in full-time 90 minutes.FIFA acknowledged that too. He is also needed in the Super Eagles. The man can coach the Eagles with what I saw at the World Cup. His defensive solidarity is great and that’s what the Super Eagles need at the moment, because we have strikers who can score goals for us. NFF, please retain this man because other countries are interested in him. A friend of mine from New Zealand spoke with me about him. His native country wants him including Ireland.
Hello Bobby.. Reach out through email.
We can talk