Super Falcons head coach Justine Madugu has said he is expecting a difficult contest against the Amazons of Benin Republic.
Nigeria won the first leg of the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifying fixture 2-0 in Lome last week Friday.
Chinwendu Ihezuo and Esther Okoronkwo got the goals for the African champions.
Madugu Ready For Battle
Madugu declared that they will take nothing for granted against their neighbours.
“We are looking forward to a tough game from the Beninoise, but we will be ready for that by putting up a good performance with the ultimate goal of qualification to the 2026 Women AFCON, where we hope to retain our title and further qualify for the World Cup in Brazil in 2027,” Madugu told thenff.com.
“The Amazons with about 10 professional players from Germany, Morocco, France and Equatorial Guinea gave a good account of themselves in the first leg, to underscore the fact that underrating any team now in Africa could be at your own peril.
“We are not taking anything for granted or leaving anything to chance. We will be ready to go all out for victory.”
The reverse fixture will hold at the Moshood Abiola Sports Arena, Abeokuta on Tuesday.
The winner on aggregate will earn a ticket to the WAFCON 2024 finals in Morocco.
By Adeboye Amosu
4 Comments
Comments not loading successfully. CS, it’s maintenance time. If this one loads, let Madugu knows Edna Imade is off our radar as Spain have poached her.
His falcons are mostly close to 30 yet he’s not active in seeking replacements.
Other nations are not idly by and the next WAFCON will have 16 teams for the first time.
I wrote a lot before.
I am happy the coach is subtly telling NFF that other nations are now having professionals in their teams and if we are not competitive regularly, those nations are coming after us.
It’s even getting more frightening…
Edna Imade is finally playing for Spain, according to the Spain women coach. Thank you NFF for not recognizing a talent or keeping one (read it as foreign born pros) since Waldrum left.
Chioma Okafor might even move soon because our ambition is low.
Ghana had one of the youngest squads at the last WAFCON and reached the semi finals.
What do we have?
In a team where anyone who is 30 is already old, we already have:
Plumptre and Esther Okoronkwo (monkey post undecided babes) – 27 and 28
Alozie – 28
Oshoala – 31
Ordega – 32
Ihezuo – 28
Onumunu and Onome Ebi (retired but over 30)
Omorinsola Babajide – 27
Uchenna Kanu – 28
Tony Payne – 30
Ayinde – 30
Ohale – 33
Those are practically first on our team sheet.
NFF conveniently forgets to plot friendlies for the “new” Falcons to gel BECAUSE WINNING WAFCON SHOULD STILL BE OUR BIRTHRIGHT ABI?
Will those players play forever or does NFF not know falcons legacy precedes their incompetence in bringing up worthy replacements for these fine super stars?
Flamingos have been a write-off in recent years.
Falconets of time past brought names like Ajakaye, Onyenedezie, Usani (well, there’s a world cup next month for the new falconets coached by a “rookie” Aduku. Please, let us see the next stars there (I can’t put past another nepotism list coming from NFF again when that list is released because na their way) because foreign born pros might not get a look in by NFF because their scouting is poor) but they are not even making the bench to watch these icons guide them now that they are young.
What exactly is NFF vision for falcons now that our rivals are basically now Zambia, Morocco, Ghana, irrepressible SA, Cameroon (even though Algeria is about to knock them out from qualifiers) and other nations rising?
WAFCON next year will HAVE 16 TEAMS and not 12 vying for the championship.
That means the stakes are higher now. Winning WAFCON has just become harder unlike when it was 8 for so many years and 12 for 2 editions.
Falcons need fresh supply of talent now or they will not measure up when 16 teams now kick in.
Abi Madugu no get mouth again to blood new players or force NFF to fix friendlies to try new people?
So long, Falcons. So long.
May NFF led by Gusau never happen to Nigerian football again. WAFCON is every 2 years and with 16 teams going forward, if we no dream bigger, we no go near medal zone again.
The alarm bells should start ringing, NFF. women’s football has just become more competitive but does NFF Africaneven care?
Perhaps, breaking it into smaller paragraphs might help. I had written:
I am happy the coach is subtly telling NFF that other nations are now having professionals in their teams and if we are not competitive regularly, those nations are coming after us.
It’s even getting more frightening…
Edna Imade is finally playing for Spain, according to the Spain women coach. Thank you NFF for not recognizing a talent or keeping one (read it as foreign born pros) since Waldrum left.
Chioma Okafor might even move soon because our ambition is low.
Ghana had one of the youngest squads at the last WAFCON and reached the semi finals.
What do we have?
In a team where anyone who is 30 is already old, we already have:
Plumptre and Esther Okoronkwo (monkey post undecided babes) – 27 and 28
Alozie – 28
Oshoala – 31
Ordega – 32
Ihezuo – 28
Onumunu and Onome Ebi (retired but over 30)
Omorinsola Babajide – 27
Uchenna Kanu – 28
Tony Payne – 30
Ayinde – 30
Ohale – 33
Those are practically first on our team sheet.
Then I added:
NFF conveniently forgets to plot friendlies for the “new” Falcons to gel BECAUSE WINNING WAFCON SHOULD STILL BE OUR BIRTHRIGHT ABI?
Will those players play forever or does NFF not know falcons legacy precedes their incompetence in bringing up worthy replacements for these fine super stars?
Flamingos have been a write-off in recent years.
Falconets of time past brought names like Ajakaye, Onyenedezie, Usani (well, there’s a world cup next month for the new falconets coached by a “rookie” Aduku. Please, let us see the next stars there (I can’t put past another nepotism list coming from NFF again when that list is released because na their way) because foreign born pros might not get a look in by NFF because their scouting is poor) but they are not even making the bench to watch these icons guide them now that they are young.
What exactly is NFF vision for falcons now that our rivals are basically now Zambia, Morocco, Ghana, irrepressible SA, Cameroon (even though Algeria is about to knock them out from qualifiers) and other nations rising?
WAFCON next year will HAVE 16 TEAMS and not 12 vying for the championship.
That means the stakes are higher now. Winning WAFCON has just become harder unlike when it was 8 for so many years and 12 for 2 editions.
Falcons need fresh supply of talent now or they will not measure up when 16 teams now kick in.
Abi Madugu no get mouth again to blood new players or force NFF to fix friendlies to try new people?
So long, Falcons. So long.
May NFF led by Gusau never happen to Nigerian football again. WAFCON is every 2 years and with 16 teams going forward, if we no dream bigger, we no go near medal zone again.
The alarm bells should start ringing, NFF. women’s football has just become more competitive but does NFF Africaneven care?