naptu2: Here's the story of Super Falcons goalkeeping
It started with Anne Agumanu (Anne Agumanu-Chiejine) from 1991 till 2000. I remember when she kept while pregnant, I remember 2000 Nations Cup final when we beat South Africa in South Africa (the South African fans kept throwing rocks at her and they were rioting in the stands, so the referee had to end the match before time and award it to us). She was the undisputed number 1 for almost 10 years. Anne Agumanu-Chiejine is now the Super Falcons goalkeeper trainer.
Then came Precious Dede. She was our first choice goalkeeper from 2001 till 2014. She was our goalkeeper coach during the Thomas Dennerby era and she folllowed him to India and is now the goalkeeper coach of the Indian junior national side.
Then came Tochukwu Oluehi. She shared the number 1 spot with Alaba Jonathan, Ibubeleye Whyte and Christy Bulus from 2015 till 2019.
Then came Chiamaka Nnadozie. She took over the number 1 spot from Tochukwu Oluehi (who is now our second choice keeper) and has held it since then.
naptu2: 🤣 Anyone that thinks that Anne Agumanu only had 20 appearances for the Super Falcons was probably only born yesterday.
(Maybe he's using google )
I've been following the Falcons from their very first game ever. Anne had very limited appearances for the Falcons. She got married, left the team and returned after a few years. Her form dropped thereafter and she eventually retired from the team.
Maybe it was her flamboyant appearance on the pitch that made it look like she was always there. Her appearances were very few.
There was once a time that female football was not taken seriously in Nigeria. It was seen as a novelty and so you had novelty football matches between men and women in which the women were allowed to break all the rules of the game. It was done more for comic relief than for its entertainment value as a competitive sport.
My introduction to proper female football came in 1989. Lagos State hosted the National Sports Festival and the female football event took place in a venue that was not far from my house. So I walked there every evening to watch the matches.
There were three states that stood out from the rest, Lagos, Bendel and Rivers. The other teams were totally terrible, their players were not fit and they looked like comedians, but Lagos, Bendel and Rivers had proper football teams. The crowd had never seen women play football so well and those three teams had huge support among them. The three teams beat other teams with huge margins like 5-0 and 10-0.
I later found out why those three states were so good. They were the three states that had proper women's football clubs. Lagos State was basically the Jegede Babes team (owned by Princess Bola Jegede), Rivers State was made up of Larry's Angels players and Bendel State was made up of players from Ufuoma Babes.
(Some of the players that I saw in 1989 later went on to become superstars with the Super Falcons, but they were totally unknown back in '89).
The owner of Larry's Angels was Chief Larry Eze.
The Rivers State Government bought over the team many years later and they became known as Rivers Angels.
Chief Larry Eze discovered a lot of stars for Nigeria, for example, he convinced a young secondary school girl named Perpetua Nkwocha to play for Larry's Angels and she later became a superstar.
donbenie: How is all these goalkeepers in front of Dede, better than her? What exactly is your criteria? Because if sheer performance in the GWG is the sole basis,with apologies to Nnadozie,Dede is still the best Falcons GK..
naptu2: The usual suspects that are (as usual) trying to troll should know that it's just a waste of time. I don't have time for nonsense.
Stop being emotional and allow people to make their contributions. How on earth can you play Precious Dede as a reserve goalkeeper? How on earth did Stella Mbachu missed the starting 11? She was the best ever number 11 and she lasted for more than a decade
naptu2: Women's football was not really taken seriously in the 1970s and '80s. What came to people's minds when you said "women's football" were comical matches that did not really comply with the rules of the game. They were novelty games that were played for comic relief, rather than real competitive matches. The situation was the same in most countries, but women's football was serious business in Scandinavia.
Then in 1989 FIFA decided to create a women's world cup (the first tournament was held in 1991) and Nigeria also decided to take women's football seriously.
So women's football was included in the 1989 National Sports Festival in Lagos. I went to watch most of the matches.
There was a huge gulf in class between the teams from Lagos, Bendel and Rivers and the other teams in the competition. Lagos, Bendel and Rivers were far better than all the other teams and none of the other teams could compete with them. The other teams looked like jokers.
Spectators who didn't think that women's football could be as interesting as men's football felt justified when they saw most of the teams play, but were totally shocked when they saw Lagos, Bendel and Rivers. Their players were very fit, trim and athletic (unlike players from other states). They could run, dribble and shoot very well.
Word spread quickly and the arena was always full when these three teams were playing. They beat the other states by 4 or more goals margin. Why were these three states so much better than the others?
Well, I didn't find out until the first women's national team, league and FA cup were organised in the early 1990s. Basically, these three states already had good female football clubs and the state teams were made up of players from these clubs.
Lagos State was basically made up of Jegede Babes players, Bendel State was the same as Ufuoma Babes of Benin and Rivers State was represented by players from Larry's Angels. These three teams dominated nigerian female football in the early 1990s.
Old Man asked Westerhof to take a look at the female national team. They had been invited to the first ever female World Cup, China '91 and Old Man didn't want them to be disgraced. Westerhof took a look at them and said that what they really needed was a fitness trainer. He said that they were in really bad condition and they needed someone that would improve their physical conditioning. So he brought a fitness trainer called Johannes Bonfrere. The first test was a two-legged friendly series against the Dutch National Team. The Falcons were thrashed 5-0 at the National Stadium in Lagos. A week later, they lost 1-0 at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium in Enugu. There had been some improvement.
Westerhof asked the NFA to allow Bonfrere to join the coaching staff of the Super Eagles, but the NFA rejected his request because it did not have enough money to pay Bonfrere. Westerhof (backed by Chief's financial muscle) offered to pay Bonfrere's salary. The NFA accepted his offer. The Eagles complained after their first training session with Bonfrere. It was too demanding
I don't even know the criteria for this arrangement. How on earth will Francisca Ordega bench Stella Mbachu..... Stella Mbachu is the all time greatest winger in the history of the super falcons. Francisca Ordega is no were close to Stella Mbachu..
GeneralDae: I would only put Ordega in reserve and replace her with Stella Mbachu. Ordega was great at her peak, but Mbachu was very consistent.
martineverest: I hate to say this ,nnadozie is a solid rock...she deserves to be African footballer of the year .see what she's doing in Paris and national team
I'm not taking anything away from Nnadozie.. But if their display for the Falcons is the criteria for choosing the best,Dede deserves the number 1 spot as well as anyone..
Boland: In my view, I believe that female participation in sports is unnecessary. The most competitive and captivating sports are predominantly played by men, so dedicating significant effort to women’s sports seems futile, as they can never truly match up to men’s achievements.
They don't have to be as good as men to excel.. Moreover sports is a profit oriented venture if there's no market for it,it would have died a natural death.. Sports like Tennis are amongst those in which women gives as good as men.
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