Congrats to the women, they have performed creditably well, I just hope they maintain that form in the World Cup.

naptu2:


You have answered my question.

"AWCON and WAFU are not a waste".

Regarding the rest, I have written a long and detailed post about the problem of the Super Falcons and why South Africa caught up with us (I will post them here again). My issue is not with the fact that we have problems with our falcons (which have to do with poor preparation). My problem is with the idea that AWCON and WAFU Cup are a waste.

those epistles were too much too read preparation like that are good but not a guarantee...lets fix our league back home First...it will help...with the preparations falcons had they might still exit the world cup at the first round...

OGHENAOGIE:
those epistles were too much too read preparation like that are good but not a guarantee...lets fix our league back home First...it will help...with the preparations falcons had they might still exit the world cup at the first round...

Then you should have read it. If you had read it then you would have realised that fixing the league (like South Africa has done with Sasol) was one of the items discussed.

naptu2:
Ghana vs Nigeria on Thursday (semi-final).

Rather it is Nigeria vs Ghana

lolzzzz
First, when did we get to the quarter finals you talked about? As far back as 1999 right? Thats 20yrs ago! That's enough time to have made significant progress in our football! And frankly, making comparison between men and female football is like comparing apples and oranges. What is the level of development in mens football in Africa compared to female football? We have African stars that are doing well at the world stage. Men's football in Africa is COMPETITIVE! That's the point. That is why i can sit down and watch because you know at least a few african sides can go to the world stage and do well! Look at female football in africa. How competitive is it? Whoever wins the afcon ure not even sure the country is a worthy winner because of the uncompetitive nature of the tournament. The teams just get to the world stage and get embarrassed. I expected some level of prrogress by now. The south african side etc that u mentioned have caught up with nigeria, how do they perform at the world stage? Thats what matters. Its like a local clubside in my village winning all matches and now feel they're the best, not knowing that the village competition is a far cry from what it should be. When such village champions meet a good side outside they get thrashed. Would u now say because the village side had been winning trophies on their village they are therefore now making progress? Why did Australia leave the oceania group and join asian group for world cup qualifiers? My dear sir, if u keep using the afcon achievements as a means of progress then u wont get the point.
Even if victory is not guaranteed at the afcon, point is these same teams go to the world stage and flop. I'm tired of seeing africans just triumph at the afican stage and go to the world stage and persistently flop at the group stage. It's like having to watch Barca win la liga every season and yet flop in champions league. At a point in time, u wud get tired of watching them in la liga because u know they ought to strike higher marks. Infact even the barca board wud end up sacking the manager. Summary, We need to set higher goals for our female football at the world stage and then we can see more progress and their football can become enjoyable.

naptu2:


You still didn't address my points.

1) The Super Falcons have gotten to the quarter final of the World Cup, but the Super Eagles have not. Would you say that it's a waste of time watching men's African Nations Cup matches?

2) Countries like South Africa, Ghana and Equatorial Guinea have beaten the Super Falcons in the past and the Falcons were not impressive at the last Nations Cup. Do you think it's a waste of time watching women's Nations Cup matches when we know that victory is not guaranteed and other countries have caught up with us?


3) The team at this WAFU Cup is our C team (not even our B team). The competition is being used to discover players that will join the A team and those that will replace aging players in the A team. Do you still think it's a waste of time?

HabuD:
lolzzzz
First, when did we get to the quarter finals you talked about? As far back as 1999 right? Thats 20yrs ago! That's enough time to have made significant progress in our football! And frankly, making comparison between men and female football is like comparing apples and oranges. What is the level of development in mens football in Africa compared to female football? We have African stars that are doing well at the world stage. Men's football in Africa is COMPETITIVE! That's the point. That is why i can sit down and watch because you know at least a few african sides can go to the world stage and do well! Look at female football in africa. How competitive is it? Whoever wins the afcon ure not even sure the country is a worthy winner because of the uncompetitive nature of the tournament. The teams just get to the world stage and get embarrassed. I expected some level of prrogress by now. The south african side etc that u mentioned have caught up with nigeria, how do they perform at the world stage? Thats what matters. Its like a local clubside in my village winning all matches and now feel they're the best, not knowing that the village competition is a far cry from what it should be. When such village champions meet a good side outside they get thrashed. Would u now say because the village side had been winning trophies on their village they are therefore now making progress? Why did Australia leave the oceania group and join asian group for world cup qualifiers? My dear sir, if u keep using the afcon achievements as a means of progress then u wont get the point.
Even if victory is not guaranteed at the afcon, point is these same teams go to the world stage and flop. I'm tired of seeing africans just triumph at the afican stage and go to the world stage and persistently flop at the group stage. It's like having to watch Barca win la liga every season and yet flop in champions league. At a point in time, u wud get tired of watching them in la liga because u know they ought to strike higher marks. Infact even the barca board wud end up sacking the manager. Summary, We need to set higher goals for our female football at the world stage and then we can see more progress and their football can become enjoyable.

You are still trying to skip around the point, but you are failing.
1) You said that African men's teams are competive, but the women are not?

a) Name one African men's team that has gone further in the men's World Cup than the women have gone?

b) Has a Nigerian senior men's team gone farther in the World Cup than the women's team?

c) You say that we have African male stars that are doing well at the world stage, is Asisat Oshoala not doing well at Barcelona? Were Tabitha Chawinga (3 times highest goal scorer in the Swedish league and one time highest goal scorer in the Chinese league) Gaelle Enganamouit (top scorer in the Swedish league in 2015, BBC World Player of the year nominee and the first African to score a hat trick at the female World Cup [Cameroon 6-0 Ecuador) and Genoveva Anonma (Bundesliga top scorer 2011/2012) not doing well at the world stage? Was Oshoala not voted BBC World Player of the year in 2014?

2) You still fail to address the point that this is our C team and that we are looking for stars to join the main team and replace our aging players in the A team. How can you say that that kind of competition is a waste of time? None of our A team players are here
There's no Oshoala, Oparanozie, Ordega, Ebi, Okobi, etc in this team. Shouldn't we build for the future and discover news stars? The ability to become one of the best in the world doesn't just fly down from the sky. It begins with work at developmental tournaments like this. Onome Ebi is already getting old, how will we find her replacement without tournaments like this?


3) One of the reasons that we have not performed as we should have at the world stage is because we do not play enough friendlies to enable the team to gel, we do not play enough developmental competitions to groom new players, we do not invest enough in our league, etc. The major footballing nations do this all the time. For once the NFF is finally getting it right by getting us to play in these kind of competitions and you are saying it's a waste Come on!

Fact is, no nation wakes up and suddenly becomes a world beater. It starts from regularly playing competitions like this. Take a look at the reason that South Africa caught up with us. If we want to catch up with the best in the world, don't you think that it requires that we put in similar work, which means more developmental competitions like this, more friendlies against bigger nations (which, for the first time ever we have had this year), better organisation and administration.

The A team has already played lots of friendlies this year, beating Slovakia 4-3, losing to Belgium 1-0 and Austria 4-1 before beating Thailand 3-0 in the Cyprus Cup
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S_IuC0ygD4
and also losing to China 3-0 and beating Romania 4-1 in the China Invitational Tournament, but what about the younger ones and fringe players? Are we not going to discover new players to put pressure on those in the A team and eventually replace them?

I believe that you are only joking, because no serious person believes that we will get better by not doing any work.

HabuD

A lot of Nigerians wrongly believe that women's football in Africa is all about Nigeria. That's not really true. Nigeria was knocked out at the group stage in the last World Cup (without winning a single match), while Cameroon got to the second round.

Cameroon defeated Ecuador 6-0 (with a hat-trick from Enganmouit), defeated Switzerland 2--1 and narrowly lost to Japan 2-1. They were defeated 1-0 in the second round by China.

In the 2014 and 2016 African Nations Cup finals, my heart was in my mouth anytime Aboudi Onguene and Enganamouit ran at the Nigerian defence, particularly in 2014. I'm still shocked that Enganamouit's wonderful shot that hit the bar did not go in.

Yes, Nigeria has won more Nations Cups than any other country, but female football in Africa is more than just about Nigeria. There are wonderful stars from other countries like Tabitha Chawinga (the Malawian goal machine), Gabrielle Aboudi Onguene, Genoveva Anonma-Nze (former African player of the year), Elizabeth Addo (the football magician), Thembi Kgatlana (the current African player of the year), Janine Van Wyck, Jade Boho and so many more.

The Canadians nicknamed the Lioness of Cameroon (the female Samuel Eto'o) Gaelle Enganamouit "The Freight Train" and you can see why.

Switzerland 1-2 Cameroon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GamJN-6Q9vs

Cameroon 6-0 Ecuador

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPdY_CchYH4

The commentator said, "TABITHA CHAWINGA OYOYOYOYO!"

She was a 3-time highest goal scorer in the Swedish league and she was the highest goal scorer in the Chinese league last year (Asisat Oshoala was the second highest goal scorer).

Malawian goal machine, Tabitha Chawinga's amazing hat-trick in the Swedish league.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N0vzmojdEg