₦airaland Forum

O ye of little faith (or in this case, NO faith at all!).

The SF WILL take max pts off Ireland, and will get enough pts off Australia and Canada to qualify out of the group - and this is with Randy in charge.
You can take that to the bank!

Its typical of Nigerians to always want to blame someone else when things don't go the way they want or wish it to go.

Deltamani:
Yeah, she knows the Nigerian side very well but with Randy Waldrum as Coach I’m afraid they might defeat us too…

Both her and Gamero are world class players in the making.

Deltamani:
Vicky Lopez scores two late goals to complete the holders' comeback. The 2014 champions Japan concede for the first time in the tournament as the bow out. Vicky Lopez is eligible to play for Nigeria at senior level, huh? �WHAT A PLAYER!

FT: JPN 1-2 ESP
[Tanikawa 66' / Lopez 87' 90'+3]

Semis are set (26th Oct)
NGA vs COL
GER vs ESP

No way the US or Spain would let either player go, as they are both on track to becoming world class players.
Too bad for Naija.

PDPGuy:
Onyeka Gamero could be a future key asset for the Super Falcons. I was impressed with her close control, dribbling and decision-making at this tournament.
Herself and Vicky Lopez will pose a lot of problems for opposing defenses

Yesss!
Congrats to the young ladies.
Even though this was a smash and grab, fortitude, drive and the will to never give up got us through.
On to the semis!

Good resilience by the girls - now penalties and its any ones game.

And how is your advise working out so far?
Not surprised at your response.

BascoVanVeli:
No I think we have just been making poor passes. If they can settle down and play their game we will win this

The US coach seems to have realized that we have a weak midfield, and opted to play with 3 at the back and 5 in the midfield, hence the reason Nigeria is being overwhelmed.
My concern is the coach might not have an answer to this and it may be a tougher second half if nothing is done to wrestle back control from the Americans.

BascoVanVeli:
They just need to calm down and play their game. They have been nervy all half and still came out with a draw.

Besides, the defense seems to be in sixes and sevens.

And that ref...

lovewins:
I was perturbed really. Why exactly were we committing too many players forward expecially after we were lucky to go ahead?

All we needed was to be more organized defensively and hit them on counter attack; a strategy we have an advantage in.

Very wet field.
Match was delayed due to a thunderstorm and so the playing conditions will be tough.

PDPGuy:
That’s because the coach has reverting to the annoying long-ball tactic.
I also don’t know why most of the players are having issues with controlling ball.

1-1
Nigeria midfield is non-existent, as there doesn't seem to be anyone playing as a defensive midfielder who can break up the opponents play.
US is dominating, as Nigeria is making very basic mistakes and the US seems to be walking through the Naija midfield unchallenged.

Thanks for the clarification.

Deltamani:
That’s Trudi Carter a Jamaican professional footballer, Ebi and Chikwelu teammates. Osarenoma Igbinovia is a Mother of One who’s currently not playing football after giving birth to her daughter 8 months ago.


She’s really a baller, i guessed she might have quit football after marriage ,shes so beautiful, composed and intelligent.

Lady on the far left in the first photo, with the blue “A” baseball cap looks like Osarenoma Igbinovia?
Can you confirm?

lovewins:
Super falcons Meetup yesterday.

Perhaps the only African to have scored against Barca in the Champions League?

BascoVanVeli:
Which kind of history book in a 9-0 loss

Big time flub by Ucheibe.
Thru on goal and made a mess of it
Missed a chance to write her name in the history books.

Noticed that.
One can almost surmise that they are intentional about not giving her a through pass when it was the obvious option. Yet, the Caldente girls always seems to be receiving the ball.

lovewins:
It's borderline annoying sometimes. To think she's really worked on her offside awareness, but they'll rather pass to the side than give the ball to her, especially when she makes some pretty impressive runs.

Sometimes, if that's the only strong point a player has, they tend to stick to it no matter what.
Sunday always struck me as a player who knew that without her dribbling skills, she pretty much was an average (or below average) footballer.
She couldn't tackle, pass the ball, had low off and on the ball work-rate and wasn't that much of a goal scorer.

As soon as teams and coaches found that out and were able to box her out, she became surplus to requirements. That's why she is not even on the radar for the national team and plays for a low rate club.

Deltamani:
Another point again… Is it that her Management or Coaches didn’t speak to her Concerning her style of play or She doesn’t listen and get carried away while in the Field of play…. Cause I used to rate Esther Sunday behind Marta of Brazil in terms of Skills then..

Who ever watched Esther Sunday play from the Junior team days down to her Pro level will understand what am saying..

Question to ask is: what exactly did all of Sunday's dribbling get her, professionally? The top clubs of the world would rather a player with pace, who gets herself into positions where she is a danger to the opposition, than one who dribbles up and down the yazoo without an end product.
Ajakaye will, more than likely, become a bigger and more accomplished player in comparison to Sunday. She has all the attributes that the top clubs want in a player - pace, positioning, strength on and off the ball, team play and ability to score goals (which she did in the qualifiers and still has a chance to score in this tournament).
Her winning the player of the game award twice in succession bodes well for her, in spite of not scoring a single goal in this tournament.

isan:
Let me say Sunday is good dribbler while Ajakaye is only pace

Not sure about this team.
They have the potential to be very good, but poor decision making upfront will be their Achilles heel.
Let's hope they make it to the semis, but against either US or Brazil, I really don't know.

Paris FC vs Stade de Reims (D1 Arkema)
Tosin Demehin Debut
FULL MATCH


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag6vjtPJpi4

No.
FIFA tries to make sure during the draws that countries from the same confederation do not end up in the same group, thats why you have all non-top seeded Asian teams, and African teams in the same Pot 3.
Nothing nefarious going on.

justicechichex:
Easiest for the SF will be:
New Zealand, Korea, Vietnam, Nigeria

Toughest would be:
USA, Netherlands, Denmark, Nigeria.

Btw, how's countries like Vietnam, Ireland in port 3 and Nigeria is in port? Meaning they're ahead in the FIFA rankings?

Ajibade in action today (4 goals)
FULL MATCH


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

That’s going to change soon.
It’s clear Ajibade is superior to both of them and is currently, IMHO, the best Female African player at the moment.

isan:
CAf still rate Ajibade below the likes of Ajara and chawinga

Its the so-called Nigerian journalists that keep asking him the same silly questions over and over again, which he keeps answering. Is it not a fact that other African nations have been 'catching up' and making progress in women's football, which is similar to what's happening with the rest of the world?. Is it not a fact that Nigeria cannot just wake up on the eve of a tournament and expect to go there and dominate (as in the past), solely based on name recognition?
Nigerians love burying their heads in the sand, expecting the rest of the continent (and world) remain at a stand still. Guess what? They are not and that is why the likes of Morrocco, South Africa, Zambia and others are progressing fast!

daveP:
This man is so concerned with other teams catching us with us than he improving the team to show that we're changing the gear. The inference in his speech is enough to get him fired. How many times does he need to keep saying that?

I guess its his job to get on the field and score now, right? As a coach, you prosecute a game with the players at your disposal. Now, if those players aren't up to the task (contrary to the misguided beliefs of Nigerians that all their players are the best in the world), then you get what you get. If you like, go and get yourself a Pia Sundhagen or Sarina Wiegman or Vlatko Andonovski or even Florence Omagbemi for that matter. It wouldn't change a damn thing!
He has been working on making our ladies team more tactically and strategically competent and it has been working, at least, in the eyes of others outside of this forum who understand the tactical and strategic nuances of the game. I, for one, saw a Nigerian ladies team, short on personnel and acclimatization (due to jet lag) play against the Japanese and dominated in the first half. I saw them playing the high block and low block and moving the ball around brilliantly and impressively.
Now, I get that most so-called fans may lack the ability to recognize such subtle improvements (perhaps due to their pre-conceived biases), but that doesn't take away from that fact that those improvements have actually happened.

daveP:
He can't even make these ladies score under 30mins. How does he want to do it at the WC? 3defeats??
If they are catching up, your assignment is to increase the momentum. Rather we hear the opposite and this can't even be accommodated if it was coming from a local coach.

You need to understand that in the overall scheme of things, specifically pre-Waldrum, Nigeria really dropped the ball regarding women's football development and we were slowly being left behind. Unfortunately, the same myopic, 'we are not playing beautiful football and whooping teams left and right' mantra was what led to the idiotic decision behind the firing or Rohr, which ended up being a total disaster. We keep making the same dumb mistakes (not just in football, but in Nigeria as a whole) and expect to get better. Well...

daveP:
Im tired of this man, sincerely. He is beginning to feel Invincible to whatever we observe.

In closing: I was asked (in a previous thread) why I am in support of the man. Well, here's my response...
Randy has worked on revamping the team, slowly transitioning from the old brigade to newer, younger players and also infusing the team with new players who are more in tune with the modern game. The build up and climb to the summit takes time, and is filled with disappointments (failing fast, learning, correcting and moving forward). Losses in irrelevant battles (friendlies) are not a predicate for how the war (the WC) will turn out, but are used to help identify areas of weakness and shoring them up (failing fast to succeed later). This is the same model that the likes of England, Spain, Mexico and several other countries used over the years, with some success. Our SF performances against Canada, US and Japan, albeit losses, demonstrated to me that he is on the right track - again, patiently building a solid and robust team. Let the man finish his project!!!

Last time I checked, Flourish Sebastian was 17 at the time she played against Japan.
And your point is...?

lovewins:
The USA gave a 17year old high school student playing time against England. If it was our guy Randy he'll do otherwise.

And this is one of the reasons why most Nigerian sports journalists are regarded as mediocre...
How does what Randy actually said tally with what this hack of a journalist decided to use as her headline?
Sensationalizing and Gaslighting the public.

Deltamani:
I Don’t Really Care About What Nigerians Think”- Randy Waldrum Reacts To Super Falcons Critics

By Bethel Kalu - October 8, 2022

Randy says he does not really care about what people are saying about his team and the results of games where he does not have a full squad.
Randy spoke to ESPN: “I don’t put a lot of weight by what everybody outside says or the results of some games where we know half of those games we have not had our full team together

Edwin Okon
What better football are you talking about? 3-3 tie with Sweden? That was the highlight of his career. He flubbed big time against Australia and of course, lost to the US. How can you be a 'good coach', yet, according to you, be tactically unsound? The performance was more individual input and performance on the part of the girls. Lets be objective, please.

Florence Omagbemi
Can't know how good she was, as she really only had continental opposition which, for all intents and purposes, was average at best at the time. I am basing this on the performances of the African teams at the World Cup which, for me, is really the benchmark to measure against. I believe her success was also based on her riding the wave of a previously dominant Nigeria women's football on the continent. That dominance has since been challenged, especially with the significant investments made by countries like Zambia, Morrocco and South Africa in women's football. Not sure she would make a difference, if any, on our current team and their performance. Also, has she increased her knowledge of the game, which has since evolved significantly since 2016? Not sure.

So called 'World Class' coach
For the umpteenth time, Nigeria will not get a Pia Sundhagen or any other supposed 'WC coach'. Why? Nigeria cannot afford such a coach. Pinnick was right in ignoring the recommendations you made (which you sighted in a previous comment). You cannot pay your players or your local coaches for months and you want to hire a WC coach who would cost millions of dollars? That makes absolutely NO sense at all.

Waldrum
As Waldrum stated, he has created a deeper and much more competitive team, compared to ALL his predecessors. Nigerian women's football have NEVER had the quality of depth it possesses at this point in time, thanks to Randy. For years, we kept playing the same old players over and over again - now they are mostly burned out. These friendlies are to test, especially your new players, against quality opposition and they have availed themselves very well. I thought they dominated proceedings against Japan in this match. For the record, Japan is ranked 11th in the world. Win or lose, as far as I am concerned, Randy's approach has been very successful. I am very optimistic that this team will do well or better than previous performances. Nigerian's need to stop looking for instantaneous gratification and learn to patiently build a team.

Deltamani:
Play terrible like how?

Edwin Okon played better football with the Ladies, just that he wasn’t that tactically Sound…

Florence Omagbemi was better, pacy football and knowing when to punish their opponents but she didn’t stay long….


If they can’t get us a Coach like the Moroccan side coach, let them bring in Omagbemi and Mercy Akide or either of the two…


Enough of Randy Rubbish

Nigeria squad vs Japan

Why is that 'horrible'?
Almost every coach would love to be in a position where they have a plethora of quality players to chose from.
Thing I will credit Randy for is that he has significantly refreshed the team in terms of depth, through the number of new, young and quality players he has sought and engaged. Most importantly, all this done within 2 years of his appointment as head coach.

The team is now on a path for rebirth, when otherwise, it was dying a slow and natural death because previous coaches always relied on the same old tired and 'experienced' legs.

Deltamani:
What a horrible position for Randy Waldrum to be in.. the level and amount of talent to choose from is fantastic. We all have our favourite players, and want to see them in the team, but dang.........!

Alozie subs in during the second half

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zyvFsdfxdc

Because being a team member, especially a national team, is not just limited to one's 'on the field' actions.
Whether you like it or not, you are forced to be a 'role model', as your actions (on or off the field) may have positive or negative influences.

lovewins:
If you had limited your arguments to her position on the field then we wouldn't b having this conversation. You commentary went further than that, you alluded to things off the pitch hence my reservations as we do not have enough in the public fora to make such judgements.

I beg to differ - the likes of Ajibade and Toni Payne add more value to the AM position, even though one might argue they are not 'natural attacking midfielders'.
More troublesome is IF, according to you, she is 'the best we have', then we have set a very low bar for ourselves and that might be one of the reasons the team has yet to fulfill its potential.

Deltamani:
Ngozi Okobi is still the best we have got among all the natural Attacking Midfielder excluding her past performance few years ago…. The likes of Peace Efih, Onyi Echegini and Esther Onyenezide still need more game time to prove themselves, but among the listed trios, I will go with Onyi Echegini as the next AM as she possesses more quality especially her well built Physic…

I have noticed that any time someone has a contrary opinion, especially on most Nigerian forums, people conveniently attribute such non-conforming opinions to 'emotions'.
My stance is based off years of watching her play for Nigeria (over a decade) and her lack of growth and progress. We've seen how the likes of Oshoala, Ajibade and Nnadozie have blossomed, yet she has exhibited a lack of growth and progress (almost to the point of regression), especially in spite of her so called years of 'experience'.
There comes a point in time when one has to fish or cut bait - there are too many up and coming, talented players and the country cannot continue to rely on someone who has repeatedly demonstrated they are incapable of adding the kind of value and promise needed to take us to where we need to be.
As always, my opinions are void of emotions and are solely based on hard football facts.

lovewins:
Your position on Okobi betrays your stance here. I really do not think Okobi is the best we've got, but I know how to separate my opinions from emotions.

There's is nothing (save the interview Okobi did with Team Nigeria) in the publicly fora to justify may of the things you've said (most of which are personal).