₦airaland Forum

Danielnino00:
It isn't always about coaching... the player's technique also matters... At the WAFCON, aside Esther, other players like Ijamilusi, Ordega, Payne, Babajide and I think Plumptree also took set pieces... Only Esther and Babajide's set pieces resulted in goals....
IMO, not many players in the SE have good set pieces technique.... Simon has been taking set pieces for the team since god knows when and not up to 5 have resulted in goals

You are right. Even in Superfalcons, I don’t think any player has mastered set pieces like left footed Esther and maybe Babajide. I would love to see more of what Plumptre, Alozie and Echiejini can do though because they are not lacking in technique.

I note (as you rightly asserted) that Babajide’s free kicks and corners were also mostly on point and one even resulted in a disallowed goal from Plumptre.

For the super eagles, it’s Moses Simon of course. Alex Iwobi and Ihenacho are players who I think can do better if they practice set pieces more.

franugo:
Same could be said for the penalty call for our first goal, in truth, we were lucky with that call..... though I think we'd have still beat them, be it extra time or penalties

Was the Moroccan player jumping? Were her hands in a natural position or outstretched from the body? Not every ball to hand situation in the box is a penalty. If that were the case, teams who can’t score would just practice shooting at players hands which are in natural positions.

BewareOf419:
Actually that incident was a penalty but Morocco is not ready to be crown champion is the cause!

How was it a penalty? Where else do you expect the hands of a player jumping to be?

M7even:
But sincerely speaking, why were they denied that penalty??

I had a feeling that Nnadozie will catch it.

The distance was too close and the hands were by the side while she was on the air. If refeerees start giving penalties for every single hand ball, all teams would then have to do is practice how to target hands of defenders in the box when you know you can't score.

daveP:
Now everyone wan host them. They should allow these ladies relazz and go back home abeg. Chai.

All these for the pleasure of these old men that belch with laughter and can't reason beyond their nose. 😂😂

Let's see if the 100k will be audio. But i doubt it is Audio sha.

I doubt it’s audio. Tinubu has always been one who spends big and struggles with frugality by his nature.

QueenJazz, to your earlier point, this was when Esther and Alozie trained with comedian Shanks and musician Blaqbonez earlier this year in Lagos.

https://youtube.com/shorts/Qsy_tdUsjAs?si=WswWMSAMb3oJViqz

naptu2:
I suspect that the reason why Aisha Falode has that impression is because of what happened in 2016/2017.

The Falcons won WAFCON in 2016, but there was no presidential reception for them, instead the players had to stage a street protest because they were being owed.

In contrast, D'Tigress won Afrobasket in 2017 and there was a presidential reception for them and they were given cash gifts.

Some people were not happy about that.

I see. Maybe because this was the most popular Wafcon tournament in history in terms of social media and popularity occurring side by side with the Euros.
The Cameroon tournament in 2016 pulled one of the largest WAFCON crowds though for most games.

[quote author=opes post=136269148]Then she (Aisha Falode) is not telling the truth..

President Tinubu stuns Super Falcons with generous gifts, the first time the 10-time winners of the WAFCON were so rewarded by a grateful nation. President Tinubu announced $100,000 each to each Super Falcon, $50k to each technical crew member, a three-bedroom flat in the… pic.twitter.com/ZiVhd8Osi7

— Bayo Onanuga, OON, CON (@aonanuga1956) July 28, 2025

I would agree that there’s been nothing of this scale in terms of the gifts and after party but Jonathan rewarded them with about 10 million naira (if I’m not mistaken) as at 2014. The Dangote’s, Elumelu’s and Adenuga’s also rewarded the set of 2014 handsomely.

opes:
Yes,I corrected the message, hosted, not rewarded..thanks

Jonathan hosted and rewarded in 2014 just like Tinubu today.

opes:
This is the first time the Falcons have ever been rewarded for winning the WAFCON, and it comes after their 10th title.

I think they were also rewarded in the Jonathan days.

Our Banks are still way too cheap.

lovewins:
Baba, you'll notice I said I was happy for the girls, but this is about how we steward public funds and in my opinion this isn't the way to go. Yes the girls deserve to be commended but this isn't sustainable. Let me break it down.

The president just gave the entire crew about $3 Million Dollars. For context, that's

3 times the WAFCON prize money
3x what they got at the last FIFA world cup after tax
3 years salary for an average female footballer player.

If they have that kind of funds to give, how to help the super falcons will be to put that money in a trust exclusively for the Falcons managed by a team of a neutral committee of heroes high net worth women absent the NFF. That initial fund can change the phase of female footbal in this country for a long time. If you put $3M in a low yield low risk investment of say 10% a year, that's $300k (which is the amount the ladies will get from their CAF winnings) in returns yearly that is enough to handle issues of bonuses and allowances. $300k means you can easily gift winners of future WAFCON a $10k prize money without issues. The only thing the NFF will likely need to take care of will be logistics.

Now imagine it's a $10M fund, that sets women's football apart for generations to come. That's how to think future and development while also being appreciative of the present. Sadly we are a money driven society and just throw money at every problem and then get suprised when they repeatedly happen again.

CC: Goke7

Very easy to understand, you wrote exactly my mind. We don’t always think sustainably. Always so fixated on the moment.
The league is nothing to write home about compared to that of the Moroccans and is in need of funds. The super falcons would likely win many more of these trophies in the future as well. This would then be used as a benchmark.

lovewins:
Just in:

President Bola Tinubu has announced a cash reward of $100,000 to each Super Falcons player who represented Nigeria at the just concluded 2025 WAFCON tournament in Morocco.

In addition, each player will also get a three-bedroom apartment at the Renewed Hope Housing estate in Abuja, and they will also be conferred with National Awards, receiving an OON (Order of the Officer of the Niger).

This figure seems outrageous but if true I'm very happy for the girls. I however think focus should be on development and not gestures like these that ultimately adds nothing to our growth.

True. I think focus should be on the development of the women’s league. But anyhow, I am happy for the super falcons ( my second favourite Nigerian team after the Dtigress)

Kalulu44:
Hatred for who Oshoala? Does she knows me and do I know her in person that I will hate her. She has achieved her goals in super falcons and it's time for to leave when the ovation is loudest.
She did well at Barca no doubt even though she was mostly used as a substitute. My reason for saying she was discarded was, if she was really important and they needed her they would have kept her. And to sell to a newly formed club in NWSL shows how they really wanted her out.
She didn't even go to the top 5 NWSL team or to another top European club.

Nah, she was a major striker for Barca at her peak especially when they started winning the UEFA Champions League back to back. She started becoming a substitute in her last season with Barca after injury troubles and when she began to lose form.

daveP:
Make they add Zidane and Idoko join for Midfield, it won't be a bad idea for Moshood too.

Mercy Idoko of course. There’s also an attacking midfield youngster in the NWFL making waves. Can’t pin down her name now (I think it’s Okechuckwu) . I think she played in the last U20 World Cup for the super falconets.

In attack we could have:

Ihezuo, Edna, Oshoala, Kanu, Monday, Okafor, Esther, Babajide, Ajibade, Ijamilusi, Onumonu, Ordega.

I hear the NFF might be making moves on Edna Imade soon and she’s still open.

iamoyindamola:
She said it herself after the final celebration

She wasn’t part of the 2010 winning squad if I’m not mistaken.

daveP:
Nnadozie undisputed. Many of the goals Dede conceded were totally avoidable if she at least moved or dived. She didn't make an attempt that my mum that used to watch Falcons that year used to be pissed sort of. She had good games though but those funny goals conceded, compared to Nnadozie......


Chiamaka is the better GK

For me, my favourite goalkeeper in super falcons history so far (not the most accomplished though) is Alaba Jonathan. Chiamaka and Oluehi comes close then Precious Dede.

iamoyindamola:
Copy and paste analyst
That's her 5th wafcon trophy

She has 4 while Ordega and Ohale have 5.

yinkeys:
Just watched the game again
Plumptre & Alozie were good in the 2nd half
They redeemed themselves in the 2nd half
All of our players were on fire in the 2nd half
Coach also rectified his errors and made the right changes at the right time
What went wrong in the first half ? They seemed clueless or stunned maybe

There were two major problems in the first half:

First, no left winger in the attack.
Given the fact that Plumptre loves to go forward and track back quickly against the speedy/skillful Moroccan winger on her side, she needed support badly. Ihezuo tried to help but it’s not something she’s used to. She’s a center forward.

The second problem was that an Abiodun / Ayinde combination does not work that well for both. The Ayinde Ucheibe combo or Ayinde Echiejini/ Ijamilusi combo (depending on the formation) is much better. So either Abiodun or Ayinde had to be taken out.

yinkeys:
She’s 28 year old
Where has she been since

Injuries.

Hanibal:
How did we all arrive at this "Madugu is not tactically sound" conclusion sef?
This man just won us the Afcon.. Something tactically sound Waldrum couldn't do

Is it the color of his skin?..

Or maybe because he doesn’t have a defensive ideology like Waldrum and Dennerby. I’ll say the man has not done that badly (though there is room for improvement).

He’s played against a top 5 ranked team France in a friendly even with a depleted team and it was a respectable scoreline. Dennerby (a good coach) was also in thesame situation in 2018 (playing France in a friendly) and we lost 8-0.

Madugu also played Portugal (ranked 23rd) in their home without a good number of his players just about less than a day after landing in Portugal and drew 0-0.

Also, Babajide and Echiegini were just the right subs to bring in at that time while taking out Ayinde since we already had Abiodun and we were chasing the game not defending. Babajide was brought in to help Ashleigh on that left while Echiejini was to bring in more creativity upfront.

daveP:
God just dey answer my prayer for setpieces. Next is our female Ororo for freekicks

I think Ashleigh might be one. Not sure, but something tells me so.

lovewins:
Deltamni, BascoVanVeli did you know this?

Haven't seen this mentioned anywhere.

Saw this now.

HeavenlyHolines:
Ajibade didn't have the nerves to play the PK. Thank God for everything, but we still have a lot to do. We need to find a complete replacement for Ohale and another two young creative midfielders.

Opeyemi Sunday comes to mind.

Kibbs:
Esther was the most impactful player on the team. Apart from her PK’s, Ajibade didn’t really do anything spectacular. That was Esther’s award

True. Esther had over 80% of her set pieces (if not 100%) on point in this tournament. Something most players in Nigerian teams struggle with generally.

ComeToJesus:
They didn't drop. Other teams improved and caught up..

Which is a good thing actually. The problem the super falcons had in the era of the Akide’s and Perpetua’s was that then they had no competition in Africa, and since we do not play many friendlies normally we had nothing to check our lapses and sharpen our skills with.
Hence, we got exposed easily at the World Cup especially since we were always in tough groups with the likes of USA, Sweden and Germany.
Now many teams have raised their game and it’s good for the super falcons because iron sharpeneth iron.

Maladaise:
Esther Okoronkwo has announced herself in a big way, a proper BALLER. Asisat Oshoala will be satisfied knowing she can hand the baton of world class quality to Esther.

I wonder why many people are surprised about Esther. She scored many of the goals that qualified us for this tournament. 2 goals at home against Capeverde in our 5-0 win.

When we went away, she was on the bench in the first half and we were 1-0 down to Capeverde in the first half. She came in the second half, tormented the Capeverdians again, provided an assist and then scored the winning goal to give us a 2-1 victory away to Capeverde.

Esther Okoronkwo is who she thinks she is.

Danielnino00:
She's listed on the bench though...

I was expecting Payne to start in her place.. Madugu definitely wants to go physical with Morocco which could be risky, considering that they are expected to have the officiating on their side...
The girls need to be careful with their tackles...


On a brighter note, Fatima Tagnot, one of Morocco's star player isn't starting...not sure if she's on the bench...injury I guess

Tagnot has not been impressive in this particular tournament though.

The high pressing upfront by the likes of Ijamilusi would be vital against that Moroccan defence which I believe is the weakest of all the semifinalists in this tournament.