President of the Nigeria Football Federation and FIFA Council Member, Mr Amaju Melvin Pinnick has showered encomiums on nine-time African champions, Super Falcons for a valiant display despite several odds and obstacles in their Women AFCON semi final encounter against host nation Morocco in Rabat on Monday night.
“Of course, we would have been happy to be in the Final and chase a 10th title. But I am happy with the performance of the team and the way and manner they approached the game despite all sorts of setbacks and intimidation.
“To play 50 minutes of a game with only nine players is not an easy task. The Super Falcons gave their all and were truly fabulous. They had the ‘Nigeria spirit’ in them and showed a sense of patriotism, were dogged and refused to give up. Penalties are forever a lottery, so it could have gone either way. I commend the team for the outing.”
The explusion of midfielder Halimat Ayinde in the 49th minute reduced Nigeria to 10 players, before referee Maria Rivet from Mauritius handed forward Rasheedat Ajibade a red card in the 70th minute, which cut Nigeria’s playing strength by two for the remaining 50 minutes (20 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of extra time) of the thrilling encounter,
Uchenna Kanu had a touch on Nigeria’s goal in the 62nd minute though it was recorded as an own goal by Yasmin Mrabet, and Nigeria could have put the match in the bag when substitute Gift Monday rocked the crossbar with a well-taken shot from outside the box 11 minutes into extra time.
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“Our girls did a massive job on a night they were not only depleted but challenged by laser lights trained on their eyes by the crowd. I am enamoured by their resilience and tenacity. The next step now is for the Federation to do everything possible to prepare the team adequately for the FIFA World Cup finals coming up next year.”
Pinnick added that he is delighted with the strong pipeline at the moment, with the U20 girls and U17 girls having also qualified for their respective FIFA World Cup tournaments and boasting interesting prospects who can easily fit into the senior team.
“The supply line looks strong enough to continue to present us with good and ambitious players for the coming years. We will have a delightful combination of experienced and youthful players for the World Cup finals.”
Already, the NFF has secured a total of four friendly matches for the Falcons in the Fall, with the team scheduled to play the United States Women’s National Team in Kansas City and Washington D. C in September, and also to fly to Japan to take on that country’s women’s squad in Kobe in October. Both opponents offer diversity in style and approach.
Nigeria, Morocco, South Africa and Zambia have qualified automatically for the 32-team FIFA Women’s World Cup fiesta to be staged in five Australian cities and four New Zealand cities 20th July – 20th August 2023. Cameroon and Senegal will battle for slots at a 10-team Playoff Tournament in New Zealand early next year.
The Super Falcons have arrived in Casablanca on Tuesday for Friday’s third place match against Zambia at the Complexe Mohamed V.
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COMMENTS
Will your preparation stop good teams from Dominating us despite the fact that we also have talented players? Why must Nigerian team always suffer against any decent team? I am becoming sick of this trend and the world cup will be another round on suffering from the girls just because they don’t have what is desired to help them stand toe to toe with their fellow women, and that thing is as a result of your incompetence Mr Pinnick. This is your last tenure in office kindly leave and not contest again so that we can have a new board that will restructure our Football with proper team managers that will return us to the Glory days where we use to hold our own against top teams in and outside Africa.
Learnt the girls have not been paid and refused to train today.
Lies
Praising the players is nice. Thanks for that.
But praise doesn’t pay bills.
Pay these players their match bonuses. Pay everything, not partial payment.
After such a heroic performance against Morocco, the last thing we want to hear is that you are owing them even a kobo.
Why do we even still have this he-goat looking man as the head of NFF? Your players and goalkeeper had laser lights pointed at their faces during penalty shootout where the slightest thing can affect your composure and lost and you didn’t ask for the minimum of a replay, if not forfeiture, as is usually done by intelligent, diligent federations. Even the same Morocco would have immediately filed a petition before their players even get to the locker room, had the reverse been the case. Remember South Africa and Ghana’s controversial CAF PK award? The astute, bright, S.Africans petitioned right away. But l haven’t seen or heard of you or your federation doing anything about it. Look at the pictures here with the lasers blatantly on these warriors’ faces. The ladies fought for the country as we’ve never seen before-sweat and last ounce of energy. All you had to do was sit in your air-conditioned office and fight for them without breaking a sweat and YOU LET THEM DOWN. Unless l’m unaware of a petition out there, your inaction is worse than the officiating. Shame on you!!
Sorry, the picture with the laser beams pointing at our ladies was with the article l saw here, right before this one.