Super Falcons forward Esther Okoronkwo believes the nine-time African champions could have won this year’s FIFA women’s World Cup.
The Falcons reached the round of 16 at the World Cup but lost on penalties to finalist England.
Despite drawn in the same group with Olympic champions Canada, hosts Australia and debutant Republic of Ireland, the Falcons finished second to progress into the knockout round.
They held Canada to a goalless draw, shocked Australia 3-2 in their second game before another goalless affair with Ireland.
For the first time, the Falcons did not lose any of their group games and kept three clean sheets in the four games at the tournament.
Reflecting on the team’s performance, Okoronkwo stated that all eyes will be at the next edition in the next four years.
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“It was nice and good. We lost on penalties to England at the World Cup,” she was quoted on FAK Sports. “We could have won the World Cup but there is another four years.“
Okonronkwo featured in two of the four games the Falcons played at the World Cup.
The 26-year-old Tenerife forward, came on as a substitute in the games against Canada and Australia.
She was not invited for the Falcons’ Paris 2024 Olympic Games qualifiers against Ethiopia.
7 Comments
Yes is true , you could have won it , England was one of the best team at the world cup and you guys made mense meat of them. You guys were naive with the penalty kick , Desire Oparanozia did no body any favour with her kick that could have given falcons advantage, she surely messed up and Assisat was never a hero we expected her to be when it mattered most !!
Anytime Nigerian teams do well at a World Cup they say they could have won it. We hear the same from the 1994 Eagles. Nearly cannot kill a bird!
Sure with 1 win and 2 draws. This team has not even improved from last world cup. This team didnt even score much.
The attack finished them at thst WC, otherwise, every other thing was about the team, from the GK down to the midfield, they were very ok. But the attack was blunt, major reason they went out that early
I think Nigeria deserved at least bronze from that world cup but from the off, the draws were against us.
It hardly gets more difficult than facing Australia, Canada and Ireland – all heavyweights sides – and then European Champions England in the first round of the knockouts. In fact the Super Falcons overachieved by reaching the second round.
On the pitch they did little wrong. Waldrum prioritized defence above all else which in itself helped the team escape the group.
They were more open against England but failed to put their penalties away.
Meeting Denmark in the second round would have brought victory and a duel against France in the quarter final which would not have been as difficult as England. Defeating France we would them have met England in the semi finals whereby a loss would have seen us defeat Sweden for the bronze medal.
Had Oshoala been slightly more clinical against Ireland then we would have met Denmark in the second round.
Oshoala has to be more clinical!
@deo, if we had won against england in the second round we would have sent them parking, and we wouldnt meet them again, our nest opponent would have been Columbia and futher more, our attack wasnt bad from the wings, the number 9 position was our problem oshoala and omunomu failed, they were just only pretty and should have gone for Beauty contest. Meanwhile the later penalty wasnt the reason we lost that game, because penalties are always open for both teams, i fact is that we were outrightly rubed in the face of fifa and the world, after alozie was pushed down in the box, it was so rubbed even by the var moderators, infact eeh the tin still dey burst my head as i dey reflect, how can we be rubbed like that, i also expected the super falcons players to drag further on that var review, but they just moved on so easily, trading with England is like dining with the devil, you need a very long spoon, they are always favoured in cases like that, just like furry was favoured by the judges Yesterday to protect the british interest, na wa oh
You all forgot the elephant in the room.
NFF ONIGBESE.
NFF is the main reason our ladies failed to realize their potential. From quarreling with coach Waldrum, to squabbling over bonuses with the players, NFF proved to be the biggest stumbling block our ladies had to overcome. NFF was their biggest and toughest opponent, not England.
Surviving the NFF took a lot of energy out of them. If the NFF had done their jobs and tried to help the team, indeed they probably would have gone far in the tournament. But with NFF pulling them back, it was always going to be tough. Not a mission impossible, but very tough indeed!