Super Falcons head coach Justine Madugu has reflected on his team’s defeat to the Scorchers of Malawi, Completsports.com reports.
The defending champions started their campaign at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations on a disappointing note, going down 3-2 to debutants Scorchers of Malawi.
Madugu Accepts Responsibility
Madugu accepted full responsibility for the defeat and vowed to address the team’s shortcomings ahead of the Super Falcons’ next match.
“There will always be criticism and comments when things go wrong. We accept those things, we accept responsibility for whatever happened and we’ll try to work on it” Madugu said after the game.
Read Also:WAFCON 2026: Super Falcons Will Bounce Back From Malawi Defeat — Oshoala
“Whatever mistakes were made, the players are very flexible and we’ll correct them next time.
“It’s a wake-up call for all of us, and we know how important this edition is. We’re not taking anything for granted.”
The Super Falcons must now win their next game against the Copper Queens of Zambia to stand a chance of making it to the knockout round.
Saturday’s encounter will hold at the Al Madina Stadium, Rabat.
By Adeboye Amosu
7 Comments
“Whatever mistakes were made, the players are very flexible and we’ll correct them next time.”
In other words, when push comes to shove, the players should use their heads to bail themselves out since he will be out of his depth again.
Meanwhile Opta just wrote that this is the FIRST TIME Nigeria concede 3 goals in her WAFCON history.
“The older the better” analogy can only get worse if the players LISTEN to Madugu and not bring their club game experiences on Saturday.
“10-star disgrace” indeed.
Ohale at football age 35 joining league of ladies nearing 30 to compete in a world cup qualifying championship shows how unambitious the technical crew is
10 star disgrace. This is where we now find ourselves?
We need our big guns to step up now.
Queen Esther, the one-woman battle squadron, who played a major role in the vanquishing of Morocco in the last Wafcon final, was a shadow of herself against Malawi.
Ajibade tried, but the effort came too little too late.
Echegini nko? Nowhere to be found.
Alozie did her best at left full back, but she’s always done so much better at right back.
Ayinde, usually so solid, was at sea in the midfield.
Demehin and Ohale struggled to cope with the rampaging Chewing Gum sisters. The one that looks like a dude (no offense intended) was a nightmare. A real thorn in the flesh. NFF should have requested that she be tested for banned substances, hahaha! The girl worried the living heck out of us!
No individual is above the team, but some players are so important, if they don’t click, it shows.
The team suffers.
Against Malawi, our key players were AWOL. They need to resume duty ASAP.
All hands on deck. Zambia must, I repeat must fall on Saturday.
If we fail to qualify from the group, at least let’s bow out by winning our remaining 2 games.
Aluta Continuaaaaa!!!!
It’s unfair and unfortunate when women have to play against other women with strong, visible and viable men-like features, physique, and natural attributes.
Malawi and Zambia have such men-like women in their fold in spades. After these epicene women from Zambia bullied, browbeat, and battered the fragile 100% female Egyptian defence into 2 goals submission, I stopped watching the match.
It surprised me not that it ended 4:0. I am sympathetic to women who have to play against such epicene people.
Thank you, @deo, for saying it as it is—NO SENTIMENTS whatsoever, or trying to be politically correct. In hindsight, looking back at the match, I really felt bad for Alozie, Ohale, Oladipo, and Demehin—100% women—having to huff and puff to stop two “women” with all the features and strength of muscular, athletic MEN. Alozie and Echegini hardly ever tug at an opponent’s shirt, but I saw them do it that day.
This is where I blame the coach, because it was obvious the players thought they were playing against women. It did not look like the coaches did their intel on the majority-male team.
Southern African teams seem to have perfected the art of cheating their way into women’s sports with she-males. Remember Caster Semenya, the “female” South African athlete who bullied women several years before she was eventually barred from competing by the IAAF? This followed multiple complaints from real women contestants and led to a new rule called Differences of Sex Development (DSD), which required her to lower her natural testosterone levels artificially with medication. She, of course, refused, choosing not to lose her unfair advantage.
Then there are Barbra Banda, Kundananji, and other “men” on the Zambian team.
How can you tell these cheats with DSD? They are actually men in disguise who date and marry their fellow “women,” behaving and acting as the “man” in the relationship, just like Caster Semenya did. South Africa currently has a married couple on their Banyana team. I am sure the Chawinga “sisters,” as well as Barbra Banda, will also date and marry “fellow” women, not men.
Now, how many Falcons team members are dating their fellow women? Have you heard of that in any West African or North African team? No, it is always the Southern African teams. But when it comes to men’s sports, they all suddenly become average.
Cisgender women do have features of a woman,but when those features are absent you start to wonder if they are transgenders.
I understand high-level training in women’s football builds significant body mass,but these footballers especially the strikers for Zambia,Malawi and one Benin under 20 striker that bullied our defenders in the under 20 world cup qualifiers,these players do not have any female features..You start to wonder or ask the question,if actually they are females or transgenders who were born male.
I understand some female footballers are stigmatized as looking like men due to athletic physics or hormonal variations…You wouldn’t blame those who question their sex for doing so, because it’s strange for females to have 100% male features , it’s weird and hardly acceptable.
It is possible for a woman to look manly and act manly. They are still women, until proven otherwise.
The ancient Celtic queen Boudica would lead her army out into battle, carrying heavy armor and riding a horse. What did she look like? I’m sure she would not be able to fight if she possessed the frail body of an average woman!
What of Queen Amina of Zaria? What of the Amazon warriors of Benin Republic? Those Amazons were known to be fierce, energetic fighters that terrified male opponents, and made them turn tail and run for dear life in the heat of battle!
My point? Women come in different packages, shapes and sizes. That some of them are unusually strong, fast, or abundant in other male attributes, does not make them anything other than women!
Besides, with prolonged elite training, anyone including women, can become very strong and fast.
There are many women athletes out there that are stronger and faster than the average man.
It’s not even a rare phenomenon. They’re many. Look at the woman in WWE wrestling, women MMA fighters, women weight lifters. They’re everywhere.
Look at many of our former Super Falcon players. The players that won us so many WAFCONs.
While they were active , they were so fit and so strong. I’m sure our opponents thought they must be men, hahaha! Now that they are retired, look at them again. They look totally like women! Soft, rounded features. Look at our retired sprint queens. Women that represented Nigeria at the Olympics and other competitions. You will see the same thing. They look muscular and manly while active, but become feminine after retirement.
So to conclude that the Malawi player in question is anything other than the female she represents herself to be has sour grapes written all over it. Defeat has turned us into sore losers.
If we doubt the gender of the Chewing Gum sisters and other opponents, it’s up to us to provide evidence. I said the Malawi player “looks like a dude”. I never meant to imply that she’s one. Let’s get that abundantly clear please.
I took the time to Google this Malawi player, and yes, she does masculine. But when you look a bit closer, you see feminine features as well.
For all I know, she might be a former man. But I insist that it must be proven first. In the law court, you are considered innocent until guilt is proven beyond reasonable doubt. It is only fair and just that we apply the same standards, even in situations that do not favour us. We just got humiliated by this “young lady”, and we want to console ourselves by latching on to the idea that our poorly prepared, poorly motivated, poorly coached ladies were outplayed and out performed by opponents who we think are men, because of how well they played! Because of the energetic, determined way they stuck to the task at hand!
Maybe the DRC players that took us to the cleaners in the world cup playoffs are not men, perhaps they are spirits from the heavens? Spain too can be forgiven if they somehow arrive at the conclusion that Cape Verde, especially Vozinha, must be angels from heaven!
This is not about political correctness, and I’m most certainly not a feminist advocate, but I believe in justice and fairness. Malawi worked their socks off, beat us fair and square, and the Chewing Gum sisters did a splendid job on the day. Let us give credit where it is due, instead of trying to explain away the unpleasant outcome of the game.