Nigeria’s Super Falcons will file out against Les Bleues of France in a friendly at the Stade Raymond Kopa, Angers on Saturday (today).
The nine-time African champions will be looking to record their first win against the hosts.
The Les Bleues won all three previous meetings between the two teams including an 8-0 whitewash in a friendly in 2018.
France claimed a slim 1-0 victory in their last meeting at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The Super Falcons head into the game in buoyant mood following last month’s successful outing in the double header friendly against Algeria.
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The West Africans defeated the Green Ladies 2-0 and 4-1 respectively.
Interim head coach Justine Madugu will also look to maintain his unbeaten run in charge of the team.
Madugu, who has declared that his mission is to rebuild the team invited a number of new faces for the game.
He has 19 players to pick from following Galatasaray defender, Oluwatosin Demehin’s withdrawal due to injury.
The highly anticipated encounter will kick-off at 9.30pm.
By Adeboye Amosu
20 Comments
Olaosebikan and Arara Kambue will be in the stadium to cheer up the Super Falcons.
@Segun West
No, you are right. Please ask Obiakorpolor to confirm if we will also see Segun Best, Ipetu Madu, Akanlo Ede, Patrick, Stan, Francis Obiakor, and the others there? The people at the NFF already know that Olaosebikan will definitely be there but Gusau and Pannick need to know before the Super Eagles arrive SOUTH. Thanks
I already feel sorry for the team and coach in this game and it’s only 15 minutes played. It is simply girls against women in terms of the French girls just bossing everything from muscling our girls to winning everything, they have all the skill, composure, attempts on target so far, our girls just look non-existent in this game so far, no composure, their passing is shot to pieces and they are just booting everything out of bounds and into row z at the moment. Playing for survival and dear lives! All you can hear is that Madugu growling and barking out actions like he is a first sergeant in the barracks. What a revolting situation so far and now we’re on about the 20 minute mark.
How these girls will survive this game without collecting serious wotowoto is something that I cannot see at all right now!
That French winger called Cascarino is just something else!, and then they have Katoto and 35 year old Le Somme who is just impervious! – like knife through butter I tell unu! Omo, see how she is just gliding past like half of our team and carrying the game dangerously into our box every time she’s on the ball kai!
2-nil!!! This game may finish in double figures for the French – I’m thinking like 10-nil or something like that! Ha!!
Sorry, I don’t normally say things like this but that Madugu needs to be relieved unless this is just an anomaly and an absolute one-off!
And they should tell him to stop bloody shouting! We can’t hear anything else but his growls all over the stadium haba!!!
Local coaches when they are looking for national team jobs:
“…we have world-class players in our local league… home-based players can easily compete with their foreign-based counterparts….. home-based players deserve automatic spots in the national team…we need to use the national team to develop our league….etc etc….”
Local coaches when they eventually get the national team job:
Starting XI – ZERO home-based players……LMAOooo
Well at least we managed to somehow wuruwuru one goal back just on the stroke of half time – Onumonu did well to get that goal actually, as she was under immense pressure to chase the ball down, get there before the powerhouse defenders that France have and somehow chip the goalie with a toe poke just on the stroke of half time.
Well done Ifeoma! maybe this will give the girls a bit of encouragement in the second half – but someone should warn that Madugu guy, he is not in the village now, and the other team have a manager also, management is not just about shouting, let’s see what his input will be now and what impact it will have in the second half – oya let’s goo!
1-2 down at halftime, “attacking coach” pulls out one forward for a Central Defender…..LMAOooo
Chima E-diot Samuels, come and carry your attacking coach o…LMAOoo
Omo I like Plumptre right, and she does carry some kind of goal threat for real, but boy is she slow or what???
Nna ehn, that’s one big weakness of hers but I still rate her, it’s because of people like her that we definitely need a world class coach for the girls who will know how to minimise her weaknesses and maximise her strengths – not just shouting haba, the guy has now changed our formation to a back 5 lool and everyone in the stadium knows exactly what he is asking the players to do, so all the French coach has to do, is just react to all Madugu’s instructions! Easy work!!
Aaaaaaahhh! Ucheibe could have and I dare say should have scored just then!!
Overall though, she and Imuran have been rock solid in this game, Onumonu is of a very good standard truth be told but she just needs beefing up a bit more, adding a bit more strength and speed to her game and she’ll be world class. In the end, we managed to keep it to 2-1 and that’s a huge credit to the girls considering what this looked like at the start. They were really up against it! We really need a top rate coach to cajole something out of these girls and make them into some sort of unit, there are glimpses that if a high class operator takes charge, we may actually have a fairly strong team in our hands. This French team are on another level in every department, from what I’ve seen in this game,
Bravo to our ladies. The mama of Africa gave good accounts of themselves.
This is almost a new set of players and still, they kept the shoreline respectable. All the coach has to do is to camp this team for a few weeks, and our Super Falcons will be hard to crack as a team.
Another thing is that our players have to have this belief in their minds that any team is not better than the Super Falcons. Falcons responded well in the second half.
The weather is very cold, and playing against one of the best teams in the world then, our ladies deserve an accolade kę.
However, talking about the red card against Ohale, some people would call it disrespectful to the referee but if we looked deeper, the referee was shocked by the scoreline because she believed the French team should have been leading by 5-0 because they were playing against an African team forgetting that most of the French team players are immigrants from Africa.
Besides that, the coach should make sure his players close down every space on the pitch. Our ladies give the home team the space to operate.
Nonetheless, this is a rare opportunity given to a local coach and he did well, but that doesn’t mean I’m satisfied with the scoreline. I believe the team he took to France is capable of beating the French team in front of their home fans.
Maybe the weather or the new set of players playing together as a team was the reason for not seeing the best of the Super Falcons in this match The coach is fearless with his substitutions. He selected the best players based on what we have at the moment. Something that we did see in the Super Eagles under Eguavoen. Not every Nigerian is corrupt. This Super Falcons
coach has proven that he preferred his image rather than collecting brown envelopes. All in all, the gaffer is in the right direction.
Upon not having our key players against France, the Falcons did their best. Bravo. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
I agree with you omonaija
I think we need to be a bit fair to the coach and the team, I know when one is already fixated on a particular thing it’s always to courageously acknowledge ones not too perfect opinion.
That a local coach was able to keep the score line to just 2-1 with a mixture of home based and foreign based players on the home soil of our opponent is something positive and commendable thing that should make us to be optimistic about the coach and the team.
If it was to be an an onyibo coach we would find a good excuse to justify our preference for them even if the score was to be 2-0 against us.
How long has Magudu been in the saddle, can you remember how long it took Walldrum to find a right mix, can’t we be fair and admit fot a second that we may have been unfair in our judgement especially when occasion demand.
Was there no tactical and technical imput at all in this match? Was against the run of play? Counter attack is it not a tactical move? the Onumonu goal and Gift Monday assist does not show football brilliance?
Bros, so the coach didn’t teach them anything at all it just came out of their individual brilliance abi?
ABEG, this is a team that doesn’t have out talismanic mummy G.O and Abiodun o, I don’t want to mention Assist I believe she has overstayed in SF.
I COMMEND MAGUDU AND THE TEAM ESPECIALLY THE NEW FACES FROM THE HOME FRONT WELDONE, WELDONE TO ONUMONU TOO, WE HAVE BEEN TO SEE YOUR POTENTIAL WCH THE ONYIBO MAN COULD NOT BRING OUT BUT MAGUDU DID THE UNTHINKABLE.KUDOS THERE’S HOPE.
Hello…Madugu has been with this team even before Waldrum, and he himself just piloted his 7th match in charge of the team today. So stop creating a false sense of “being new to the team” for him.
Closing shop after 45 minutes in a friendly match is nothing to congratulate him for.
He resorted to damage control after the first half by doing the same things he and his followers shaded Wladrum for (being defensive). He has Chiamaka Nnadozie to thank for making that scoreline very flattering….LMAOoo.
He alone knows why he pulled out a forward for a Central Defender when we were a goal down…..LMAOoo. For someone who has been priased and branded “an attacking coach”, I find that quite absurd. Would he pull out a striker for a central defender is he were 1-2 down against Cape Verde…??? LMAOo
Again, stop creating false narratives. Some of us have always seen Onumonu’s potential since she made her debut. The hatred some of you had for her just because she is US-born made y’all not to. She has been our highest scoring CF through out Waldrum’s tenure and probably 2nd highest overall to Uchenna Kanu. She scored vs Botswana (or so) at AWCON, provided the assist that took us to the World Cup vs Cameroon, and it was her header off the bar when we were 9 men vs Morrocco in the semifinals that someone bundled in to give us a goal in that game.
So here am I scratching my head trying to wrap my head around the false narrative you are trying to paint about Madugu bringing out her potential….LMAOoo. I as a person have always stated here that the girl is by miles the most technically gifted and intelligent CF in the SF.
All I see here is desperation to paint a bad situation good because of the skin colour of the coach. I am not shocked that what was sour under Waldrum now suddenly tastes good….LMAooo….the same way 343 was unacceptable under Peserio but became a delight under Eguavoen.
This is very frustrating to me. Why do we Africans, most especially Nigerians, have no faith in our own?
First, Waldrum did perform poorly at the Olympics you Nigerians did not say anything because Waldrum is a white coach.
Let’s face the reality for once kę. Most of these players have not played for so long and do we even know how cold the weather was? This is winter time, and I hope the majority of you people live abroad, ba?
I will choose Madugu over Waldrum. He qualified Nigeria for the Olympics and against France today, he did well.
But just because the gaffer is not a white coach, some group of people here will rush his efforts. It is a shame.
What kind of mentality is that? Must we have a white president before we can have a good place called a country?
We still have a long way to go as Africans. Hmmm. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
Waldrum performed poorly in the Olympics you couldn’t qualify for in 16 good years…..LMAOooo, but Madugu has done well today bringing in a CB for a WF when he was losing 1-2 and needed a goal…?
A white coach losing 0-1 to Brazil, 0-1 to Spain and 1-3 to Japan in the olympics is poor performance, but your local coach doing the exact same things Waldrum was crucified for and losing 1-2 in a friendly is a good performance…..LMAOOoo
Do you know what that is called…?? Celebration of Mediocirty.
I thought you guys said Madugu is an attacking coach. I was expecting him to attack France the way he would attach Cape Verde and Ethiopia. But all I saw was a defensive approach with VAR and Nnadozie making the scorline respectable till half-time, and then the next we saw was your attacking coach losing 1-2, bringing in a CB for a FW at the start of the 2nd half and kuku parking the whole team bus inside our 18 yard box in an ultra-defnsive approach to minimize further damage……LMAOoooo
And which Madugu qualified you for the Olympics…? Are you suffering memory loss…?
You are complaining of weather as if 100% of our starting eleven are not from, or playing in the same Europe where the match was played (or similar frigid regions).
You are right, some of you have a long way to go. Your desperation to paint an equally bad situation good because of the skin colour of the coach is shocking.
Cold weather is now your excuse for Madugu closing shop after 45mins in a friendly match….LMAOoo
“…Must we have a white president before we can have a good place called a country…”
What has black presidents done for your country after over 60 years…? Shebi your country is a good place currently…..LMAOoo…better than the way the Brits left it. Cant you see the way oyinbo people queue outside Nigerian embassies to get visas to relocte to Nigeria…?
If you ask me, I think its high time y’all tried a white president…LMAOoo
Dr Drey asked one simple question: Would the coach have pulled out a forward for a defender if it was Cape Verde?
I thought we wanted to see attacking flair? When Denmark annihilated South Africa in October 5 nil, the girls didn’t switch tactics. They played true to their identity.
The hype of attack mindfulness you guys gave this coach eh, I wanted to see Falcons in a different dimension but nope, see BBC stats below for attacking flair:
France vs Nigeria
69.3 Possession 30.7
19. Shots. 7
11. Shots on target 5
6. Shots off target. 1
46. TOUCHES in the box. 5
4. Saves. 8
What did he do differently from Waldrum? Who turned defensive with attacking intent? Lol.
Morocco who turned to UWCL serial winner in spite of their own, no get sense abi?
When nations with home grown coaches have built their capacity and have a footballing identity, we are deceiving ourselves with “express yourself” football and lock up shop when the bench is at stake. If e didn’t dey, e didn’t dey.
We will soon rely on talents in falcons to bail us out as eagles are doing.
I was livid when he ditched the home based players who “humiliated” Algeria only 4 weeks back for who? Lol. Talent dependence loading
Hahahaha…thank you Sly, for giving us the match stats.
Cant you see how the stats show how fearlessly and courageously the “attacking coach” Madagu attacked France with intent, from beginning till the end of that match.
To say I was disappointed a local coach didn’t have the bravery to start any local player in a friendly match is an understatement.
I am very happy for Onumonu,I noticed how she struggled to score as sf top nine, I can’t remember her scoring more than 3 goals under waldrum, I remember her many frustrations at scoring,I love her technicality but truth be told she has not been a stand out no.9.i wish her a huge success under Magudu.
Playing under this weather and still perform like this, Magudu pls continue to be fearless and courageous.
Sorry, under which weather conditions are the players playing in their European clubs….LMAOOoo
Nnadozie plays in France
Alozie plays in US
Imuran plays in UK
Ohale in US/Mexico
Plumtre is European and plays in the middle East
Ucheibe in Portugal
Echegini in France
Payne in UK
Onumonu in France
Monday in Spain
Nkor in Egypt or so…?
Are all these places experiencing summer or nighttime temperatures above 18 degrees at the moment….? LMAOOo
So please which one of them doesn’t play week in week out in wintery conditions…?
Can you see how desperate you are, trying to make a god out of Madugu for losing 1-2 to France…..? Subbing in a CB for a FW after 45 mins when 1-2 down is now termed fearless and courageous….LMAOoo.
Even the weather is being glorified because a local coach is in charge….LMAOooo. The same weather in which the players are plying in their clubs o……LMAOoo
By the way Onumonu scored 5 goals (1 vs Canada, 1 vs Botswana, 2 vs CIV and 1 vs Ghana or so) and produced 2 assists (vs Cameroon and Morrocco) under Waldrum. She was later shifted to the wings (quite erroneous IMHO though) to allow Oshoala play centrally. That was why her returns became limited subsequently.