The Super Falcons put up a spirited performance which unfortunately was not enough as they fell 2-1 to world champions United States of America in their second friendly game on Tuesday, Completesports.com reports.
It was a much improved display from the Falcons who were hammered 4-0 by the US in their first meeting on Saturday.
The game which was played inside the Audi Field, Washington DC, saw the Americans maintain their winning streak against the Falcons as they have now won all eight fixtures between both teams.
The last time the Falcons scored against the US was in the group stage of the women’s football event at the Sydney 2000 Olympics which ended 3-1 in favour of the world champions.
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The Randy Waldrum-led side have now lost their last four games.
After containing their hosts in the early part of the game, the Falcons’ defence was eventually breached on 24 minutes as Blessing Demehin put the ball into her own net.
The Falcons fought back and were rewarded as Uchenna Kanu equalized in the 50th minute with a fine strike.
But the Americans went 2-1 up through Rosemary Lavelle who headed in a cross from the left off the boot of Megan Rapinoe.
Both the Falcons and the US will feature at next year’s FIFA women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The Falcons will play another friendly this time against former world champions Japan in Kobe on 6th October, 2022.
By James Agberebi
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COMMENTS
FT USA 2-1 Super Falcons an improved performance from our girls with respect to the first game. Randy Waldrum learnt from his mistakes in the first match in terms of personell and a new tactical identity (a hybrid 4-2-3-1 which enables the team to play in triangles on the 4-1-3-2 and to press high up the pitch in a 3-4-3) it’s a bold and radical change from his previous conservative 3-5-2 and lopsided 4-3-3. There are some issues with this new setup and I’ll state as follows:-
1. The lack of compression between the lines vertically meant that the US constantly found joy in the space between defence and midfield,if coach Randy fixes this we will be a much more harder team to beat.
2. The new fluid system demands that the players stop playing in straight lines(which is used for counter attacks) and start playing in triangles in between opposition lines of pressure an key to this is little details in terms of better close control and accurate passes which will pull defences apart,we are lacking in this department and hopefully coach Randy sees this and encourages the players to play with more confidence and stay on the ball more which in turn will make us unplayable.
With the above points l hereby retrace my previous comments about coach Randy’s suitability to the job,it’s unprofessional in our line of work,the man has a plan and with patience and adequate support he will perfect it.
This comment was meant for this page and not the other.
The fact still remains that the coach is not fit for the super falcons. Does his formation explain is insistence on using strikers as defenders or playing the ladies out of position? If not for the keeper, falcons would have conceded more than 2 goals. Waldrum is not fit to be the coach of any Nigerian female team. That is the sad truth.
I think the reason for the experiments was that he’s not given adequate support (friendlies) and if not for the eye opener at wafcon i don’t think this set of friendly matches will be available trust nff always setting up coaches to fail an example is before the wafcon Nigeria is the only notable country that didn’t play a pre tournament warm up, without these warm ups how does one approach the tournament proper,you know what I think, I think Nigeria are the strongest team at that tournament but due to a lack of adequate planning and preparation,all coach Randy had to do was experiment to know his players better. It’s easier in club level where one can play week in week out but at international level it’s much harder cos a lot can happen like loss of form to key players, injuries and then the quality of the backup as well trying to implement a new style of play and having players who fit into it so it’s not easy normally but with the nff your guess is as good as mine.
I think we should just leave the coach to do his job. From today’s display, Alozie and Payne are currently the best fullbacks we have.
I just found out that Alozie has a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Cellular and Development Biology and a Masters in sports psychology and motor behaviors…. She also plans to continue with medical school after she hangs her boots…Wow
She is also a Yale University graduate FYI
I didn’t see the game a shame fell asleep.But from @Codex analysis I knew we had an improved performance.
I think we should let Waldrum do his job,I have never for once criticized him because I respect him as a professional besides I have seen his input and I’m satisfied with how he’s able to deploy different tactical formations to improve the team I knew he’s a good coach.
Against Morocco in the semi final of the Afwcon he propelled a team with two red cards for a greater part of the game to finish all square in 120 minutes that was a masterclass.Yet we failed to acknowledge that feat probably because we lost on penalties so we didn’t care because we were hurting but that was a fantastic job he did,had we won that game he would have got the whole country talking good about him,a shame we lost.
However,when I wrote in support of the gaffer what did I get?Thumb downs because we are professional moaners.
Nigeria is a country where people like to moan they are too clever to a fault,everyone is a better coach than the hired one we come here and write long epistles with complex dictions just to express our dissatisfaction.
Many coaches have left their jobs for this very reason,players too the lose of Victor Moses was like Mane leaving Liverpool the impact of that lose was huge.With Victor Moses even with Eguavoen as a coach we would have scored that important goal we needed to save a life to take us to Qatar.We chased Rohr out a tactical wizard from Germany and ruined everything.
We should learn to be patient and respect professionals.I remember this forum nearly pulled down Ladan Bosso before the under20 wafu playoffs,I have seen his job in the past and was satisfied and gave him all my support.This coaches after all are humans sometimes it goes wrong but from the way Bosso boys play I knew he is a good coach but we should not forget this coaches especially in Nigeria work in an extreme complex conditions which makes it difficult to excel so we should support them and be patient.
Nigeria may have suffered the heavy defeat in the first friendly against the USA because of different factors.
One of them could be because the team have to fly from different countries it takes time after such journey to get going because most of them are knackered with jetlag.
Another reason could be the greenhorns in the team that needs time to blend with their compatriots.They only had one or two days to do that which wasn’t good enough.
The third one could be finding the right tactical approach against a quality side like the USA playing at home as well makes the task herculean.
We must be patient I think the coach has done well.We shouldn’t be ungrateful or asking for way too much.He qualified us for the awcon and the world cup had to cross difficult hurdles against strong sides to achieve that he deserves an applaud for that.
I’m sure we would have a good world cup.We have a good technical team to guide us to success we need to give them all the support they need to achieve.
To be honest, the Super Falcons were on course to reach the final of the WAfcon before Ayinde and Ajibade got themselves senseless sent off.
Gift Monday’s wastefulness in front of goal effectively gifted Zambia the bronze medal.
I still remain ambivalent about Randy Waldrum but this respectable slim loss to USA and the manner of the second half helped me to restore a modicum of hope in the Gaffer.
I did believe in him before and during the WAfcon but my biggest bugbear is his players selection. If he gets that right then perhaps a lively world cup awaits.
Since patience is the prevailing theme of your write-up above, perhaps you can tear a leaf and extend it to your perception of Ifeoma Onumonu. Some of your conclusions about her were incendiary.
You notice I said “conclusion” not “comment”. I too do comment on Onumonu which includes harsh but balance criticisms. You seem to have written her off in your “conclusions”.
We don’t practice we are expecting to win. Let them have a practice time before their next friendly game.
Yes Ayoola. Lack of practice contributed to the heavy 4:0 loss in the first game
As well as jet lag and time-zone changes.
The flight from mainland Europe to Kansas city is 10+ hrs, no to mention that from Nigeria (14+ hrs).
Also, we all saw the effects of such travel during the summer series last year, when we lost to Jamaica (1st game).
A lot of us are getting carried away with the score line. We should remember that it was a friendly game and if it was the tournament proper, the match would have been different. The score line was 2 – 1 against Nigeria because Nnadozie kept us in the game.
Regardless of whatever pattern Waldrum used in this 2nd match, he is not doing anything with this falcons. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t see any technical input from him on this team.
First, he continues to play the girls out of position, using strikers and midfielders as defenders. Apart from that, he keeps playing the ladies out of position so as to accommodate his preferred players (who are obviously not the best for those positions). If it was a local coach doing this, Nigerians would have called for the head of the coach or demand that the coach be sacked immediately. The question here is, would Waldrum have been able to do this with the USA national team? Of course, he would not dare to do it and if he did and continued to get the kind of results super falcons is getting under his watch, he would have long resigned honorably without having to be asked to resign.
Second, Waldrum’s technical impact on this team is glaringly lacking. It is either he is technically poor or he doesn’t know how to input it on the players. Whatever performance the players put up yesterday was largely due to their own ability and not that of the coach. Remember that majority of the players play abroad. How can Waldrum be the coach of this team for more than 2 years and each time the falcons play, they can’t string 2 to 3 passes together. Players want to pass to their teammate and they will either over kick the ball or pass ball behind their teammates. Not only that, all the players want to dribble 3 to 4 players before they pass the ball. Often time, they dribble into a dead wall and easily lose the ball. That has been a constant feature of this team. It is the job of Waldrum to correct it and he is not doing it.
Third, the super falcons (same as the under 20 team) continue to play with physical strength rather than play with their mental strength. This was very glaring yesterday. The commentators kept on pointing out that falcons are just playing with physical energy (football is not by jambody alone, you also have to use your head). Due to dependence on physical energy, the falcons ran out of gas by the 70th minute and they were all over the place. Some of them could not even run anymore as a result of this.
By playing Alozie (a striker) and Payne (a midfielder) as fullbacks, the USA team had field day on the flanks. Most of the time and just like in the first match, these players were caught out of position. The defenders and the midfielders were also not different (especially in the 2nd half when they ran out of gas). They were either ball watching or didn’t know which players exactly they were to mark. Even when they had the ball and were attacking, they don’t know how to play with each other. They were too far away from their teammate, expecting a long ball to be kicked (against a taller opposition for that matter!) so they can chase it, or preferring to just dribble and over dribble (most of the time into a dead wall of opposing players).
So to say the falcons were gallant is simply an overstatement. A lot of things is wrong with this team and Waldrum is not or cannot correct it. If a coach has been with a team for more than 2 years his immediate impart should already have been felt on the team. That period of time is long enough for people to start seeing the direction the coach is taking or wants to take the team. This is not the case with Waldrum. He is instead taking the team backwards and it is a shame because it is an “oyinbo man” that is doing this to the super falcons. Were is to be our indigenous coach, be it male or female, they would have long been sacked.
If you sincerely watched this second game, then you wouldn’t make some of the submissions you made. Alozie played up front as a right winger with Gloria Ogbonna manning the right back. Gloria would later depart for Nicole Payne and the latter and Alozie interchangeably ran the flanks. Tonye Payne played in the left side of the three man midfield. It was the u-20 draftee, Imuran who played the left back and creditably well. So I’m lost as to some of your submissions. Yes, Waldrum is guilty of playing the players out of their original positions, but in the last game, he didn’t. And to be fair to him, he alone sees them in trainings and have better reasons for deploying them how he wants to fit his strategy.
Please let’s give kudos when due. How can the players playing well be as a result of their sheer brilliance alone, but doing badly is solely coaching error?
Coaching job isn’t a piece of cake as we will like to portray with flowery prose.
You say Alozie played in the right flank. How many times did you see her on the right flank. She was more in the defensive half of Nigeria. Same with Payne. By the 60th minute, Ogbonna was already gassed out and was literarily walking/jogging before she was removed. Are you aware that the USA team made countless runs into our 18 yard box from the right and left flanks. Was the midfield not overwhelmingly porous and more or less non existence in the match. Do you even know why Ucheibe was substituted in the match? In fact, USA were always in acres of space in the right and left flanks and you wonder where the defenders were. Are you aware that it was a low cross from the right flank that led to the own goal conceded by falcons? You should be asking, “where was the right back at the time the cross was made.” Mind you this kind of play occurred countless times throughout the match and there was no attempt to curtail it.
The whole defenders where always out of position and either ball watching or didn’t know who to mark. You are saying what you are saying because Nnadozie prevented the USA team from scoring more than 2 goal (actually 1 goal if we take out the own goal). If they had conceded more than 2 goals like they did in the first match, you would have reluctantly conceded that the coach is not doing a good job with the team. Rather than agreeing with the obvious flaws of this team, you want to make it appear as if the match was a very close one. World cup is not the same as WAFCON, I hope you realize this.
I completely agree with your submission……We can’t get carried away by the performance and score line…. I have never been a fan of Waldrum and I still thinks he lacks the technical know-how for international football. He seems to have some favorites in that team and that might cost us some trouble in the long run…. Waldrum has had tons of friendlies that past coaches never enjoyed and at this stage we should have had his work cut out and we should have seen some technical impacts in the team, but it seems like still trying out players something he should have done by gradually phasing out the old heads.
Friendlies under Waldrum
Nig vs Mali (Aisha Buhari cup)
Nig vs SA (Aisha Buhari cup)
Nig vs Ghana (Aisha Buhari cup)
Nigeria vs Canada (2 games)
Invitational tournament in Turkey (3 games)
Invitational tournament in TX
Nigeria vs Portugal
Nigeria vs Jamaica
Nigeria vs U.S.A
Nigeria vs U.S.A 2 games in the last week
and I will think he had learnt some things from the just concluded Wafcon…….Rather than try new players he relied on the 38 yearold captain, Ordega, Chikwelu who are supposed to have been gradually phased out. I hope he can take some bold steps before thr WC.
Next stop will be the Japan game.
A ton of friendlies you say sir can you compare the number of friendly matches the likes of USA, England and Brazil had played since 2020.
Now ask yourself if as a country or our football house is organized and transparent like the aforementioned countries…. There were times in the past that the falcons will go a stretch without any friendly whatsoever but those coaches still grinded out a decent team. Prior to the last WC the only friendly we played in a year and a half before the WC was an 8-0 drubbing by the French national team. Truth be told the only area Amaju that Amaju has tried is the organizing friendlies for the falcons. Something I don’t think any other coach has enjoyed but the tactical ineptitude of Waldrum still makes him clueless after so many friendlies…..He is still has a problem of playing players in their right position.
Before the Last WC we played 7 friendlies if I recall properly and none of them was France we faced as China,Romania, Belgium,Slovakia,Canada,Thailand and Austria we did play the french at the WC proper and we narrowly lost that game by a Wendy Renard penalty which was controversial btw but I get your point and I gave reasons why he(Randy) plays his charges out of position in a previous comment so until the WWC starts I rest my case.
We played France and it was 8-0 before the WC at least u have internet to type verify it…
That was not a pre world cup friendly but pre wafcon friendly,the team was in the midst of wafcon qualification when they faced France on April 2018.you mentioned that we only played one friendly before 2019 WWC which is false.
Its obvious some here know little or next to nothing about Football. Versatility is KEY to any successful national team. Unfortunately, Nigerian fans lack the foresight and patience for team growth, because they only want results.
You talk about not trying new players? Seriously? Of all Nigeria’s Women’s team coaches, Randy is the coach with the best record of trying out new players the most. Off the top of my head, some names of players who debuted under Randy include: Monday Gift, Tosin Demehin, Amanda Abadi, Viv Ikechukwu, Akudo Ogbonna, Debbie Abiodun, Rofiat Imuran, Opeyemi Sunday, not to mention the foreign based players he brought aboard, including Onyinye Zogg, Roosa Ariyo, Toni and Nicole Payne, Esther Okoronkwo, Michelle Alozie, Jennifer Echegini, Chrissy Ucheibe, Peace Efih, and Regina Otu.
I know I am missing others, but to even suggest that he is not utilizing new players a nothing but a crock of BS. In the 2 years he has been here, he has given opportunity to at least 18 new players to be a part of the team. NO other coach in history has done that.
So, please, stop the hatorade and give the man his due, please!
Add Ifeoma Onumonu and Macleans to the list of debutants under Randy. That’s 20 brand new players.
Randy tries to explain the reasoning behind his team selection. Hopefully, this helps to address the rationale behind some of the player selection.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgEVhkHcZMg
Nooo he should have been using 40 year old players….Mr know it all since alot of Nigerians don’t know about football…..So playing an attack minded player as a defender without trying others for those defensive positions is something great right? Not until recently did he try new players for the defence and he was forced to because of visa and other issues that prevented the old heads from making it…..I’m sure he would have fielded Onome Ebi if she was able to make it….. Or Ordega.
If you had patience to read you will see that I said he did not try new players for the right and left full back positions for a straight 2 years until recently…..Tell me a player that had benches Onome or a player tried out in the left and right full back positions before the USA game…
.All through the tournament using Alozie and Payne as right and left full backs doesn’t show any tactical awareness makes him actually look dumb. You can write a whole book and it won’t sway me about his coaching style……Except if he does well at the WC will he be applauded as for now a 4th place at the Nations cup is nothing I will commend him for..
Dude,
In the past 2 years, he has used Opeyemi Sunday, Patricia George, Onyi Zogg as full backs and Ogbonna Akudo, Zogg again and Demehin as centerbacks.
Now, if those players do not stack up to the 40 yr old, who has proven time and time again that she can compete against the 20 yr olds and hold her own, then what do you do as a coach? Cut your nose to spite your face, just because some fans don’t like the 40 yr old? That would be just silly.
Again, its easy for arm-chair critics like yourself who have little or zero experience coaching a national team to criticize all the time without offering any rational alternative. That’s what Nigerians do and are known for – no surprise here.
Arm-Chair critics indeed……In football there will always be critics only if you have never criticized before will you be exempt of being included as an Amr-chair critic too. You don’t know me so you really can’t say I have zero experience in coaching and for your info Patricia George never played as a full back she played as a midfielder…With all these BS you are writing he still remains a coach with little or no international experience and is tactically inept…. Unfortunately, the WC will blow his shit open.
Wait o una still dey argue over this matter nawa o nff no go pay una