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Super Falcons defender Faith Michael has been ruled out of the the Nigerian team’s remaining campaign at the ongoing 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France due to a knee ligament injury, reports Completesports.com.
Michael picked up the injury in Nigeria’s 3-0 defeat to Norway in the opening Group A encounter at the Stade Auguite Delaune, Reims on Saturday.
The 32-year-old was taken off the pitch after she collided with goalkeeper Tochukwu Oluehi in the 53rd minute.
The Pitea IF defender was later replaced by Chidinma Okeke, who is now in pole position to her place in the starting line-up against Korea Republic on Wednesday
The African champions will face Korea Republic in their next game on Wednesday at the Stade des Alpes, Grenoble. Kick-off is 2pm Nigerian time.
The Super Falcons sit in third position in Group A with no point and need a win against the Asians to keep alive their hopes of reaching the next round.
By Adeboye Amosu
7 Comments
The sub, Okeke did well and was generally more agile – although obviously less experienced. I noticed Oshoala giving her some senior babe’s advice when she was thrown into the fray. Lol. So, Chidinma Okeke, you go girl! :).
But seriously, the backline of the Super Falcons is seriously ageing and needs an overhaul. Ohale, Michael, Ebi, Chikwelu; experienced, yes, but lethargic. They cost us that Norway game, silly mistakes and misplaced passes/clearances. Only Oluehi is still strong, and she’s not a bad goalkeeper. Her backup, Chidozie is equally ok.
I was watching a clip of Cameroun blowing away Ecuador 6-0 in the 2015 World Cup, and then surprising Switzerland 2-1; only to lose by a slim 1-0 to China. Just yesterday, Canada could only beat them 1-0. Is Cameroun just lucky to have non-female football powerhouses in their group? Or they’re currently the best in Africa?
I think Nigeria still has a slight edge. Ordega, Oshoala, Okobi and maybe Uchenna Kanu are perhaps the brightest spots in this squad. Everything else aside, they are young and more mobile. Dernerby should perhaps go for youth more in these girls mentioned and also start Ajibade, Uchenna Kanu, Chinasa Chiwendu and co. Bench Oparanozie, please. She’s experienced but just too heavy. I believe SF can get the better of South Korea tomorrow, maybe a 3-1 win and then play 1-1 with France to qualify for the next round. A tough call, but possible. GO SUPER FALCONS!
Really nice write up Kel. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks.
God bless u bro, I kon dey wonder weda na only me see d tin. To be really honest most of those our players with d exception of kanu, okeke, esther Sunday, uchenna, ihuezo (tho she is another tijani) joy bikini, and ajibade the rest should not be playing fir Nigeria senior national team, they are too old and not fit. Am not in any way trying to insult them but their last worldcup should have been 2 or 3 worlcups ago. The ladies who should be executing this competition should have been the last u20 and u17 with maybe 3-5 experience players. Girls who could outrun d norwegians not our old mamas parading as soccer players. Bleaching cream makers don hammer as regards to our Falcons I swear. The coach is another Aigbooun, he barely barks orders, just seats there moping. In 3yrs what has he don? To me he hasn’t done Jack for 9ja. NFF should really start investigating some of dis coaches and really scrutinizing their list, I understand they don’t want to interfere but my God haven’t we learnt anything. The last time we won our 1st game was 1999 very pathetic. Carrying dsame old women to every worldcup. if you are over 25yrs as a female player u shouldn’t be invited as if u include d 9ja factor u r most likely 30yrs and a 30yr 9ja woman no fit run as fast as a 20yr old. u can’t cheat nature. sorry guys for d long write up, d tin dey pain me, I neva fully recover from d u20 debacle dis old women kon add dia own join lol.
When all else fails, is it time to go back to the tried and tested?
Having presided over one of the worst first match results for Nigeria in recent World Cup tournaments with the soul destroying 3:0 defeat against Norway on Sunday, Dennerby will will now be hoping for his girls to do what we seldom do: win their second match.
Since the turn of the century, below are the results of our ladies in second group stage matches:
2003: Nigeria 0:5 USA
2007: Nigeria 0:2 North Korea
2011: Nigeria 0:1 Germany
2015: Nigeria 0:2 Australia
Now, what is the evidence that Dennerby will fashion out a way to buck this trend?
The news of Michael’s injury is definitely a blow to the team but in Okeke, we have a capable – if less exposed – replacement.
The team needs to go out for it tomorrow however, win or lose, some are already looking ahead to life beyond Dennerby.
Speaking on Brillafm, former coach of the Falcons Ismaila Mabo was quoted as saying:“I don’t believe in the idea of having a foreign coach for the Falcons.”
He would go on to say:”we need to go back to the Omagbemis, Eucharias, Agumanus of this world.
These pioneers of football are well trained coaches now and i am appealing to the NFF to think about bringing them back.” End of quote.
You have to say that on evidence of the outcome of our first match, its hard to see the justification for a foreign coach for the Falcons.
Football can be really unforgiving. Claudio Ranierri parted the red sea to miraculously lead Leicester to the promise land only for himself to be thrown into the red sea the following season after a string of poor results.
It wasn’t that long ago that some of us (me included) were happy with Dennerby’s approach. However, after only one match, disappointment and despair are setting in.
Nothing but a victory will be enough for Dennerby to redeem himself.
He made the promises, we followed. It is now time for him to deliver.
The coach is not a bad coach. This is the same coach that took Sweden to third place in 2011. Sweden hasn’t reached that height since he left them. The only issue is that he’s only being with these set of Falcons for less than 2 years. Against Norway the only thing I realize is that the way he set his team up to go all out and attack affects the rhythm of our shape.
Against a powerhouse like Norway the team should’ve been set up defensively. Get bodies behind the ball and try to beat them on the counter. Using all attack minded midfielders in Okobi, Ayinde and aging Rita affected our overall play against the Scandinavians. Now going forward he needs to shuffle the defense and put more bodies in the middle. The introduction of Chidinma Okeke and the girl that replaced Ayinde in the Second half added bite to our overall life play.
It’s a mountain to climb as it stands, but I believe we are on par with the Koreans. If they can get their acts together we should be able to win this game. First let’s try to get the win tomorrow and see what happens between Norway and France. I don’t see them getting a draw against France, but a win against Korea can change everything.
left to me…If I were to be coach of this team, I could set them up to be a counter attacking team…a 5-3-2 or 3-5-2, depending on the opposition. Whether we like it or yes, we are inferior to all other teams above us in the FIFA rankings at this world cup, we cant match them player for player, technique for technique, but we can match them tactically by simply setting up to cancel out their own tactical approach and leveraging on our comparative advantage….which is our physical edge. I’m not the one to quickly blame coaches, but after over a year and more than a score of matches in charge, I expected Dennerby to have understood this team now and fashion out gameplans that suit the nature of players he has, rather than trying to make the players suit his own gameplan. In all honesty, I wasnt expecting the state of disorientation and disorganization I saw against Norway.
I had said it on this forum earlier, more than anything else, this falcons team needed to up their physical regime much more than anything else going into this world cup, they need to be more of athletes than footballers. If you are not fit…physically, you will lack mental fitness. It is when you are fit that you can make a complete pass…it is when you are fit you can have stamina….it is when you are fit that you can take a shot and the ball will travel at the right velocity, intensity and direction …it is when you are fit…as individual players and as a team…that you can cover every blade of grass on the pitch.
After the friendly against Canada, i remembered pointing out that our defence is too lethargic due to the age of the defenders and that we need to anchormen (or women) to sit as a pivot right in front of the defence, hence the need to drop either of chikwelu or okobi for a younger anchorman (ogonna chukwudi or osarenoma igbinovia readily comes to mind) to partner ayinde in that defensive midfield role…of course with one of them having the liberty to roam (which ayinde always does and hence gets drawn out of position many times). Playing Rita and and Okobi is a liability on our week defence as Rita too is aging and cannot combine defensive, creative and attacking roles all in one plot, while ngozi is ultra attacking and it will be a disservice to the team to saddle her with both defensive and attacking roles.
Against Canada, the two goals we conceded came from unmarked attacking midfielders ghosting into our box unhindered to have all the time to pick the right spots for their goals. Same issues we witnessed against Norway.
The koreans are going to be even faster in their style of play and more technical in their approach….we need this match very badly and coach dennerby will have to ring drastic changes if we are to come away with anything tangible from the game. 20yrs ago is too long a time for us not to have had any meaningful impact at the world cup, other than to go there and be shipping in goals.
All of a suddenly (according to Chief zebrudaya), Omo9ja no longer comments on any news about the Falcons.
Omo9ja….which one you nor dey na…? Dem don stop to sell data for ya area…?