Spain head coach Montserrat Tome has identified Rasheedat Ajibade and Chiamaka Nnadozie as Super Falcons’ biggest stars.
Tome also stated he is expecting a difficult test against nine-time African champions.
The world champions will square up with the Super Falcons in their second group game at the 2024 Olympic Games in Nantes on Sunday.
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“They are a physically very strong rival, who will take everything to individual and physical duels,” Tomé was quoted by Marca
“It will be very different from Japan because they will let us play less. We have studied them well and I would highlight that they play a lot on the left side, where there is an Ajibade that we know well, and that they have a goalkeeper, Nnadozie, who has a fairly long serve and is quite good.”
Spain defeated Japan 2-1 in their opening fixture, while Nigeria lost 1-0 to Brazil.
By Adeboye Amosu
25 Comments
A coach that has done his home work well, not all these “tactics doesn’t matter in football” coaches we have here in Nigeria!
Mr Nice, that’s your name now.
I think tactics do matter a lot. How some coaches just choose to prioritise movements and play applications over tactical arrangements but I accord importance to all elements.
Pls anyone aware of what is wrong with Oshoala ..So much was expected of her in terms of fillin the void left by Perpetual Nwakocha’s retirement. But she is not living up to that expectation at the national team level . Maybe at the club level she is doing well but im not feeling her impact at all in SF jercy
Injured and bribed her way in. Agba baller to serious
I am unsure she is injured as this hasn’t been made public, hence it is speculation.
I think Oshoala can come good if selected against Spain.
She is not doing well both at club. Bayfc is languishing and she’s guilty of missing sitters as always. In life there comes a season when you’ll go through this phase but it shall be well.
shima g daniel – for yur yeye miind nau yuh go dey tink say yuh yan sonting wey make sense ba? yuh brain no tell yuh say the woman is getting older, efrywan gets older and yuh cannot always be as good as yuh was in youre younger days, it is simple, oshoal no get the same legs or stregth or power like before, now she is spent as a football force – no need to ovrtink am na simple sonting mscheew!
tribalistic ewu lolz
Chima,is it true she is struggling in her new club?
Observing Oshoala from last world cup and recent qualifiers, I observe that she still has pace and power in healthy bursts.
So, she definitely still has a place in the team for me.
I won’t subscribe to the notion that she has been a waste of space in Super Falcons colours of late. She had a decent world cup in Australia where she scored in the group stages and troubled England with pace and shots at goal in the second round.
In recent qualifiers, her pace and power caused issues to oppositions. But I can’t help but notice how wasteful she has become in front of goal. Her conversion rate is simply negotiable. But on the flanks as a sub, she works a treat and have proven profitable in this regard.
kai! see wahahla! deo don come again wit hin beautiful nonsense lolz – biko stop yaning shit if yur brain don pak up then restart de battry before yuh begin yan igbe please!
Yaboah M,
I actually think you are capable of generating intelligent, intellectually stimulating discourse which contributors here can benefit from.
‘Beautiful nonsense’ now that is what Mr. 442 will call Oxymoron as both words contradict due to being polar opposite.
Now tell me, what about my contribution on Oshoala doesn’t sit well with you? If you let me know, rather than being childish in your utterance, perhaps we can both learn a thing or two.
What do you think sir?
deo, is not a personal attack sir – you are very good mostly but sometimes
i disagreed wit yuh – is simple. i don’t tink you shuld encourage oshaola let’s just called spade spade – see the pipo playing for other countries, nobody is managing and continue holding on to past glory, yuh nigreains are always guilty of these, please yuh pipo shud move on and find more current players, especially wen di one you are advocated for is clearly not up to task – in life everyting moves forward, when yuh are born you grow up and older wit efry day that pass, efrytings move forward only in nigreains are yuh pipo always tried to moving backways, leave oshaolo now and focus on de wans who can take yur country forward – this is the reason i disagreed wit yuh here deo.
Point taken sir.
Thanks Yeboah.
thanks deo. btw da name is yabaoh not yeboah – I shange my name for many good reason -1) i am no longer consider mysel ghanaian because i hate ghanaian pipo, they are very jealousty and wicked and evilish pipo – my aunt kill de dauhter of her husband girlfriend, my uncle charge me big monies to helep me move to nigreain and secure living accomodation- a very huge amount that i am still paying for today and has been paying for more than ten years now- in ghana there is no love at all, even for one anoda talkless of for yuh nigreains, de sooner yuh pipo realise and understand the nature of de beast on your doorstep, the quicker you can better protek yursel from hin – do not trust any ghanaian! they really really hate nigreains – anybody who disagree can did so at there own perilous perils lolz – anyway, i shange my name as i want distant mysel as far from anyting ghanaian as possible so i shange the ugly evil ghanaian names so my name is no longer yeboah but is yabaoh – do not try to overunderstand tings unless yuh really knows what is happen – anoda reason for it is becuase now i am living in yaba in nigreain for almost 17 years now and am a happy man, because of it. be carful of mokey pest and pipo like yaw and selfmade – they are what the bible warn yuh about – wolf in sheep cloth.
Oh okay Yabaoh M. I apologise unreservedly for misspelling your name. Thanks for drawing my attention to it. Have fun however you wish to spend this lovely day.
deo thanks. you too, is a shame what has happen to nigreains football, they should be moving up and it almost looked like so recently but in this olympic so far am not liking what am seeing – but still anyting is possibly in footbal and for the spain coach to be saying only the nigreains goalkeeper n”wonderful nnadozie will stop them from giving nigreain wotwoto today is too mush pride from her, she forget that in footbal anyting can happened and it is not impossibly for the super falcon to beat spain later today and if they do i will be a very happy ex ghanaian lolz – but we wait and see what will happened sha. thanko.
is noting wrong wit she hersel is just her footbal wrong. it gone off why yu pipo kip on asking nau? ? yuh pipo didnt liked nigreains anymore yuh just wanted her to lost games keep asking for ashala lolz yuh want her to played instaed of ajibade or who even?
Nigeria should take their chances against Spain as the glorious one missed by Iheuzo at close range after excellent service from Ajibade proved costly.
As can be seen from the outcomes of the first two group games, it’s a tough group. So it’s going to go down to the wire.
Currently, Japan will qualify for the knockout phase as one of the best 3rd place teams because of the goal scored against Spain.
Spain will hope to seal their passage to the quarter-finals with a win against Nigeria which will give them breathing space for experimentation in thier final game against an obdurate and physically endowed Brazil.
For us Nigeria, a score draw is essential whilst a win will be massive. A loss, however, is out of the question.
To obtain a favourable result, Waldrum needs to restore organization and positional discipline in the team. Ohale has to display impeccable leadership and organizational qualities at the back in tandem with her actual footballing roles and responsibilities.
Abiodun was exceptional against Brazil in how she handled her midfield duties with focus, purpose and drive. Nigeria fans will hope she carries this attitude on.
I will advocate starting Nicole Payne on the right and shunting Alozie to the left due to Okeke’s subpar display against Brazil. Payne had greater springs on her steps with sharpness and bite and Alozie looked more comfortable on the left.
Ucheibe’s battering ram approach will serve the team well while Demehin will be expected to have eyes behind her head.
In front, Echegini was lightweight on the left flank. I think that position should go to Agbaballer Oshoala due to her raw pace, power and positional discipline. Perhaps Echegini can take the place of Payne in centre attacking midfield where she plays more “as to the manner born”.
It goes without saying that Ajibade retains her place on the right due to the finesse and eloquent penetrative abilities she possesses.
The 1 million Naira question for me is who starts up front? Though I am never a fan of Onumonu, I think she has that refined technical ability to manufacture meaningful movements and finish with credibility upfront.
Then you have Esther Okoronkwo who also has well refined centre forward technical skills. Iheuzo as well cannot be written off but, as much as Waldrum might be head over heels in love with her centre forward presentation, she is yet to fully demonstrate superior all round technical superiority over Onumonu and Okoronkwo.
But for me, it will be a mistake to play Oshoala as the main center forward due to her penchant to misdirect several begging goal scoring chances from promising positions.
It remains to be seen whether Chinonyerem Macleans has centre forward currency in the eyes of Waldrum so I don’t expect to see her in contention.
Kanu is expected to be a sub.
Whatever Waldrum decides, I have no doubt we have players capable of grinding out a draw or even causing an upset to upstage Spain.
Dropping Rinsola was criminal. Our attack is very toothless apart from Ajibade. I have no idea why Kanu is not starting.
I like the movement of the ball from defense through the midfield but the person in that attack is Ajibade. The rest have been unbelievably toothless. Echegini must step up and Kanu should be starting.
It will be difficult to make it out of this group. We can only hope for the best.
I agree AY. Rinsola would have added greater speed and lubricant to the wings than that former Gotham City center forward who is just a misuse-of-slot. In fact, Onyenezide in the middle or Monday Gift would have been better options to replace the midfielder who dropped out on account of injury.
My question is whether Randy Waldrum will approach the game against Spain with the same formation and tactical approach that he used against Brazil.
In the first half, I was most surprised to see the Super Falcons set up in a 4-1-4-1 formation against the South Americans – the first time I will see such under Waldrum.
This formation catered for the 4 defenders and 1 defensive midfielder in Deborah Abiodun who had the freedom to roam about the pitch to retrieve and recirculate the ball which she did with aplomb.
Then you have the left centre midfielder in Payne who was expected to collect the ball from deep and run with it into enemy terrain; something she struggled against Brazil.
Then further up was the right attacking midfielder in Ucheibe who was expected to win the ball higher up the pitch when pressing and also to launch ferocious long shots: a role I thought she performed rather well as evidenced from the 3 shots she had on goal. But she wasn’t really able to move with the ball or interact as effective as could be possible or productive with Iheuzo.
On the flanks, Ajibade from the right dispatched her markers and drove deep to deliver crosses. She was lively, effective and exceptional. On the left, Echegini tried to invert her runs to cut in and shoot from long or short range. She was largely unsuccessful as she was well curtailed and when she did get through her shots were either too high or well blocked. Her dribbles and trickery didn’t come off.
In front, the sole centre forward Iheuzo failed to convert a glaring chance and would be subsequently largely starved of service with left centre midfielder (Payne) and left winger (Echegini) struggling to find headway while right attacking midfielder (Ucheibe) not fashioning out creative ways to bring Iheuzo into the game.
At the back, meaningful overlapping runs and deft crosses to Iheuzo from the left was virtually non-existent from Okeke while Alozie’s long balls to attack often failed to connect and her overlapping runs proved fruitless for most part.
I didn’t notice 1 single noteworthy long balls to Iheuzo from either centre backs Demehin or Ohale which all contributed to making life harder for Iheuzo as the best service to her largely came from one outlet: Ajibade.
I am just about watching the second half to see how the Super Falcons approached it.
Spain coach is literally saying our goalkeeper is the only one standing between her team and a heavy defeat on us. Ball possession masters, sorry, mistresses. If Waldrum girls have most often been scoring fewer goals, what happens when they are run ragged without a sniff of ball juggling against Spain? Japan at last year’s WWC used very less possession to really devastating effect against Spain. I doubt if the falcons have such weapons in the team. Wins occur by scoring goals. Can we?
I have studied Spain a bit and expect almost all their teams to play attacking 4-3-3 formation with exceptional ball retention and deep penetrative capabilities from the wings and down the middle. Defensively, they crowd out any opposition player with the ball to retrieve formation.
They are playable and beatable by the Super Falcons, I strongly believe that. I think we have players who can match them technically and a structure that can be polished to produce success.
With minor tweaks to the starting 11 against Brazil and the likes of Payne, Echegini and Okoronkwo stepping up, I think anything is possible.
Onumonu for me is never a winger and Okeke appears to be off pace. With players positioned properly, an upset might just be on the cards for Nigeria.
As the second half commenced, the team still continued with the 4-1-4-1 formation with Okoronkwo replacing Iheuzo as centre forward.
She (Okoronkwo) dropped deep in midfield to collect and recycle the ball with mixed results which at least meant she saw more of the ball than Iheuzo. She also connected better with long balls from Nnadozie and tried to run at defenders before being dispossessed.
They started a new system for the defensive midfielder Abiodun or right attacking midfielder Ucheibe would shell through passes to the overlapping runs of the right backs Alozie and later Nicole Payne which were sadly overcooked.
The right and left wingers fell back to defend but Ajibade struggled to prevent crosses.
The defensive midfielder Abiodun covered the entire pitch to help the center backs, wingers and fullbacks to recover the ball – a thankless and unsung role.
On the left, Payne and Echegini swapped centre midfield and left wing roles but it bore little fruit as crosses or through balls failed to materialise.
The left back Okeke often failed to prevent Brazilians from beating her to deliver crosses.
Later, Onumonu was introduced to right wing for Ajibade to move to left centre midfield to take the place of Payne who was removed. Kanu was introduced to left wing in place of the ineffective Echegini.
Nicole Payne will come in and play right back for Okeke with Alozie moved to left back.
Long balls now emerged from the centre backs Ohale and Demehin to attack which held promise. Ajibade worked hard to connect midfield to wings and even had a shot at goal. Kanu was effectively caged by the Brazilian fullbacks for the most part.
Nicole Payne bumped up and down the right wing as she looked very sharp with Alozie looking to offer more attacking threats from the left but her deliveries were still not overwhelming.
The right wing was unrecognisable as Onumonu didn’t present similar dribbling and directness as Ajibade but she (Onumonu) supported defensive duties.
In all, Ajibade proved versatile but Onumonu was not an overly effective winger. Even Kanu struggled with physically technical defenders from the flanks while Okonkwo falls deep to support good link up play.
I think the team can cause Spain some problems under this same formation if Waldrum selects the right players in key positions and address areas of concern.