Super Falcons Boss Thomas Dennerby has insisted that his focus is fully on winning the WAFU tournament with Super Falcons and not thinking about World Cup yet.
In a chat with brila.net, Dennerby said he is not thinking about the world cup in France now and all his focus is on his next semifinal game against Ghana on Thursday.
“It’s going to be a different team on the other side but I am not thinking so much about the World Cup now, we want to concentrate on this tournament in front of us.
“Definitely, we know we are at the semifinals on Thursday and we want to win the competition, I think we should concentrate on the WAFU game for now “. Dennerby concluded.
I would’ve preferred to play Nigeria in the final – Black Queens Coach.
Head coach of Ghana’s Black Queens Mercy Tagoe-Quarcoo says she would’ve liked to avoid Nigeria in the semi-final of the ongoing WAFU Zone B tournament.
The two rivals will square off in the semi-finals of the competition for the second straight year after the Super Falcons finished top of Group B after a 2-0 win over Mali in their final group game.
Ghana won on penalties in last year’s semi finals on their way to winning the title.
The Falcons have scored 22 goals in their 3 games so far at the tournament, conceding just one, and Tagoe-Quarcoo says she would’ve preferred to lock horns with their rivals in the final.
“My wish was to meet Nigeria in the final,” she said.
“Ghana versus Nigeria matches are similar to games between Hearts and Kotoko, in that it’s no news regardless who wins. Both teams are evenly matched and it would’ve been a great final.”
Ghana’s Black Queens have been drawn against the Super Falcons of Nigeria in the semi-finals of the ongoing 2019 WAFU Zone B Africa Women’s Championship.
The Queens who are looking forward to defending their title faces tough opposition in the defending champions of the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON), Nigeria.
The two sides are unbeaten so far in this year’s WAFU Zone B tournament. Ghana came in 2nd on the Group A standings at the end of the group phase whiles Nigeria topped Group B. The Queens won their first two matches and drew goalless with host nations Cote d’Ivoire on Monday.
Nigeria on the other hand boast of a 100% win record and looks the favorite to emerge as the winner of this champions. Their goal scoring prowess has been phenomenal and Ghana would have wished they avoided the side.
Ahead of the match, Coach for the Black Queens, Mercy Tagoe-Quarcoo is expected to do some work on her defensive setup in order to be able to cope with the Falcons when they meet them.
The match will be played on Thursday, May 17, 2019. Kick off time is at 18:00GMT. In the other semi-final game, Mali will play Cote d’Ivoire in a bid to book a slot in the grand finale.
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.
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.
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.
It is a miracle that the Super Falcons of Nigeria have qualified for the 2018 AWCON final because they’ve suffered a torrid time since winning the 2016 AWCON in Cameroon.
The Super Falcons’ woes began even before they played the final match at the 2016 AWCON. They had heard that the sports minister, Solomon Dalung and members of the NFF led by their president, Amaju Pinnick, would come and address the team, especially on issues concerning their camp allowances, winning bonuses and the coaches’ nine months salaries would be settled.
However, the sports minister, NFF president and their delegation flew into Yaounde in a chartered jet, stayed at the airport until it was almost time for the match, drove straight to the stadium to watch the match without seeing the Falcons and then drove back to the airport after the match and flew to Nigeria without seeing the players.
The VIPs flew into Yaounde in a chartered jet, but the players had to fly back to Nigeria via commercial flights. They had to fly from Yaounde to Douala in a plane that was too small to carry their luggage (their luggage was transported by road) and then fly from Douala to Abuja.
Protest
Their allowances and bonuses were still not paid when they returned to Abuja and they had to stage a sit in protest at their hotel.
Meanwhile, the Lionesses of Cameroon that were beaten by the Falcons were being hosted by President Biya at a state reception in which they were showered gifts, given medals and praised as heros of Cameroon. [img]http://naijachronicles.files./2018/11/reception_lionnes_full_08_12_2016.jpg?w=584[/img] Gaelle Enganamouit and other lionesses being hosted to a reception by President Biya of Cameroon after coming second at the 2016 AWCON.
The Falcons protested at their hotel until they were evicted, then they carried their protest to the streets. They staged a protest march to the National Assembly and they also marched to the Aso Rock Villa where they were received by the chief of staff to the president. The COS promised that President Buhari would intervene in their situation.
It took an intervention by President Buhari before the Falcons and their coaches were paid their entitlements.
Florence Omagbemi
Some members of the NFF were angry that the Falcons staged a protest in Abuja. They believed that the Falcons embarrassed the NFF before the government and people of Nigeria and they held Coach Florence Omagbemi responsible for the protest.
They believed that Coach Omagbemi was responsible because she did not control her players and prevent them from protesting, so they decided that she must go. They decided that they would either appoint a foreigner as coach of the Falcons or they would recall the former coach, Edwin Okon, to take over as coach.
The NFF initially ignored Coach Omagbemi for months, then they directed her to apply for her job. They eventually frustrated her out of the job and the Falcons were without a coach for many months.
The Falcons complain
After spending 8 months without a coach, a warm up session or a friendly match, the Falcons took to social media to stage another protest. They complained that other African teams were playing friendly matches and progressing, while the Falcons had been dormant and regressing. The Falcons had won the AWCON in December 2016, but they had not been involved in any activity till October 2017 when they complained on social media. Some people felt that the Falcons were being punished for their protest while others felt that the NFF was focusing solely on the Super Eagles’ qualification for the World Cup in Russia to the detriment of the other national teams.
The NFF responds Eventually, in November 2017, the president of the NFF, Amaju Pinnick, declared that the NFF had not abandoned the Super Falcons. He also declared that a new foreign coach would be in Nigeria to sign a contract within a week.
New coach or no new coach? The next week the NFF announced that an American, Randy Waldrum, had been appointed as the new coach of the Super Falcons. However, Randy Waldrum became the coach of the University of Pittsburgh in December 2017. The NFF had announced that he was the Falcons coach without signing a contract with him!
Thomas Dennerby and friendlies The NFF eventually signed Thomas Dennerby as the new coach of the Falcons in January 2018, more than a year after the 2016 AWCON. They also announced that the Super Falcons would feature in the Alanya Women’s tournament in Turkey alongside Mexico, Romania, Ukraine, Slovakia and France’s B team. The Falcons were scheduled to play a friendly match against France in April 2018.
The Falcons participated in the WAFU Cup tournament in February 2018, but it was basically a home based team and it was mainly made up of players from the Under 20 squad (e.g. Rasheedat Ajibade and Anam Imo). Nigeria lost to Ghana on penalties in the semi-final and defeated Mali in the third place match.
Nigeria played against France in a friendly match on April 6th, 2018. It was the first time that the full senior team was playing together since December 2016. Asisat Oshoala could not make it to the game due to visa problems, but Courtney Dike, Ini Umotong and Sophia Omotola Omidiji were in the team. The Falcons lost 8-0 to France.
In June the Falcons played two AWCON qualifying matches against the Gambia. Nigeria defeated Gambia 0-1 away and won 6-0 in Lagos to qualify for the AWCON.
The future The matches against France and the Gambia were the only proper matches that the Super Falcons (the full team) played in almost two years.
The Super Falcons have now qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup which will hold in France in June and July 2019. The question is, will the NFF abandon the Falcons in order to concentrate on the Super Eagles’ quest to win the 2019 Nations Cup? Will the NFF organise quality friendly matches for the Falcons, or will they wait till 3 weeks before the World Cup to organise “friendly matches” against local Under 17 boys’ teams? What are the NFF’s plans for the Falcons ahead of the World Cup? The South Africans have already arranged a friendly match against Sweden for January 2019, when will the Falcons play friendlies? Bafana Bafana’s quest to play at the AFCON has not affected Banyana Banyana’s programmes, will the Eagles’ campaign at the AFCON affect the Falcons?
Friendlies are very important because they help the players to understand each other better, they help the coach to ensure that the players understand the way he wants them to play, they help the NFF and the fans to assess the performance of the coach and they help everybody to assess the performance of the players. Will we play quality friendlies before the World Cup?
Nigeria met South Africa in the semi-final of the 2016 AWCON in Cameroon on November 29th and their paths since then could not have been more different. While Banyana Banyana has been very active and has improved considerably, the Super Falcons have been in the wilderness and have declined.
Sponsorship Change began for South Africa in 2009 when energy giant Sasol signed on to sponsor Banyana Banyana and the South African Women’s Football League. Since then the company has pumped a lot of money into the development of women’s football in South Africa.
[img]http://naijachronicles.files./2018/11/banyana-13.jpg?w=584[/img] Banyana Banyana and the South African Women’s League are sponsored by South African energy giant, Sasol. The South Africans had two main goals, (1) to qualify for the World Cup and (2) to beat Nigeria.
The four dominant teams in African women’s football are Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana and South Africa and the South Africans are the one of the four that has never qualified for the World Cup until now. Sponsorship from Sasol meant that the South African FA (SAFA) could hire a Dutch coach, Vera Pauw, in 2014 and she led Banyana Banyana to the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Vera Pauw retired after the Olympics and SAFA hired former Banyana Banyana player, Desiree Ellis in 2016.
South Africa also played AWCON qualifying matches against Lesotho in June 2018. They won 0-1 away at Lesotho and 6-0 at home to qualify for the AWCON.
South Africa hosted the COSAFA Women’s Championship in September 2018. The tournament featured Southern African teams, with Uganda and Cameroon taking part as guests. Banyana Banyana defeated Madagascar, Botswana and Malawi in the group stage and defeated Uganda in the semi-final. They defeated Cameroon 2-1 in the final to lift the cup.
Banyana Banyana captain, Janine Van Wyk, sacrificed her career with the Houston Dash to return to South Africa and play in the COSAFA Championship. She had played for Banyana for a long time and her last remaining goal was to help the team to qualify for the World Cup. She was prepared to do everything to ensure that Banyana Banyana qualified for the World Cup. She won her 150th cap with Banyana Banyana at the COSAFA Championship. She is now the most capped South African player ever (man or woman).
Banyana Banyana played two matches against Chile in Chile in October. The lost 2-1 in the first game on October 6th and drew 2-2 in the second game on October 10th.
There are two advantages that Nigeria has always had over other African countries; (1) Nigeria has had a women’s league since 1990 and the league has been running continuously since then, which means that the players have been active (2) Nigerian female players have played in clubs all over the world (Europe, China, the US, Australia, etc.) and have thus gained a lot of experience. The South Africans were determined to narrow this gap.
Sasol’s sponsorship of the league has ensured that South African women’s football clubs have had more money to invest in youth development, better training facilities and it has also ensured that the league has been running continuously.
South Africa’s very experienced captain, Janine Van Wyk, moved to Houston Dash in the US National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in 2017 and South Africa’s former coach, Vera Pauw, became coach of the club soon afterwards. It was therefore no surprise that fellow South Africans, Thembi Kgatlana and Linda Mothlalo were signed by Houston in 2018.
These three players, Thembi Kgatlana, Janine Van Wyk and Linda Mothlalo have played a huge role in South Africa’s success at this Nations Cup and I believe that their performance has improved partly because of the experience they’ve gained by playing in the NWSL, which is one of the best leagues in the world.
Janine Van Wyk sacrificed her career at Houston to return home to help Bnayana Banyana prepare properly for the Nations Cup. She believed that this was her last chance to play at the World Cup and she was determined to do everything possible to ensure that South Africa qualified for the World Cup for the first time ever.
South Africa has achieved their two objectives at this Nations Cup. They have qualified for the World Cup and they have beaten Nigeria.
OGHENAOGIE: the falcons reach quarter final once...make we no blow am...his fears are valid although these afcon or wafu is not waste...but expecting tremendous improvement in a dysfunctional Nigerian society is asking for too much...if we must do well we have to fix our sports sector and football...watch what will happen when South African female league run well like the male own...u ll see d difference...as for falcons doing well in world cup I doubt cos the European and American,asians have a functional female league system...i mean Africa does not have a female champion league...like Europe have...and we want to win World Cup from where...lets hope the falcons and other African team do well...winning d world cup now in future is impossible except there is a miracle...
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.
HabuD: sincerely i thought we should have made progress by now on the world stage. i remember like 20yrs back when Nigeria would thrash African sides like shit but get to the world cup and flop, but i was so happy back then because i thought we would make steady progress at the world stage with time. But over 20yrs later, we are still being thrashed at the world stage and we are still married consistently to th group stages at every world cup. Infact i really think we have retrogressed because i remember the likes of mercy akide and oparanozie et al that reached the quarter finals in 1999. Since then we haven't made much progress. So i really think celebrating these AFCONs is total mediocrity for us. Maybe not for other african nations because they never belonged to our generations. Most of them just got up recently.
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?
Nigeria's Super Falcons are group B winners after a win over 10-player Malian side on Tuesday. They will take on Group A runners- in the semi-final. Rafiat Sule 67', @Ucheofficial30 Kanu 92
Besides, this particular competition is very important. This is not our A team. Asisat Oshoala, Desire Oparanozie, Ngozi Okobi, Francisca Ordega, etc are not in this team.
This is practically our C team and the competition is meant to help us decide who will join our A team.
We are not as dominant in Africa as you think. Other countries are catching up.
We lost our first game at the last Nations Cup to South Africa. We only beat South Africa in the final on penalties. Our previous two finals against Cameroon were not easy either. We lost the semi-final of the last WAFU Cup to Ghana and had to settle for 3rd place (incidentally, we are most likely to play Ghana again in our next game).
Similarly, we have not been attrocious on the world stage. We have gotten to the quarter final of the World Cup before (the Super Eagles have never gotten to the quarter final of the World Cup, but you would not call a men's Nations Cup game a waste of time)
The problem is not lack of competition from African rivals. The problem is poor preparation by the NFF. The Super Falcons went without a single training session for more than a year after winning the 2016 Nations Cup. How do you want a team to play against serious countries when they have not even trained together in more than a year??
The reason that South Africa caught up with us was because they played friendlies regularly and they have a major sponsor (Sasol), while we are just twiddling our thumbs.
HabuD: but the point is, we are so tired of their dominance in Africa while they perform woefully at the world stage. I guess one of the reasons why we are yet to do well at the world stage is because most of these african sides lack competitiveness, and so our standard has been relegated to theirs. The important thing is the world cup not these african village games. That's why a team like barcelona can sack a coach who wins la liga several times for them but flops in the champions league because they can only get that very special feeling of accomplishment when they defeat Europe! Same applies for naija. What difference does it make winning AFCON for hundred times when you will flop woefully at the world stage. Winning AFCON can never be considered an achievement to me. Its more like practice match with the lowly football playing sides of the world, more like barcelona vs kano pillars
HabuD: lolzzz... this is to sensitize and enlighten pple here on why it makes no sense. its like watching a match between barcelona and a primary school team in a village. We would already know the outcome, so that suspense and competitiveness will be lost.
Nah! You are wrong. How many 4-0 games did the Super Falcons play at the last AWCON? Was it so easy?
Do you think anybody would need sensitisation if this was actually the case? They can see things for themselves.
Why has it taken so long for the Super Falcons to score against Mali, if it was that easy?
I just saw a little clip of the game. Our supporters club is there in full force. I can clearly hear their trumpets.
The Malian player was initially shown a yellow card for a foul on our captain, but she subsequently insulted the referee, so she was shown a second yellow card and sent off
HabuD: i wonder how pple still watch falcons matches in Africa. We all know that they would thrash these african teams like 50-0 but when it comes to the world cup which is what matters they would just get so embarrassed. I had since lost interest in anything super falcons game on African soil. Of what difference does it make winning massively in Africa but getting thrashed in the world stage which is what matters? This thread to me is quite unnecessary!
Then why are you viewing the thread and posting on it when it is unnecessary?
Sports › Re: Nigeria Vs Ghana: Women's WAFU Cup (4 - 2) - Penalty (Full Time) by naptu2(op): 3:11am On May 16, 2019
Come on!
