₦airaland Forum

Schemerkhiz:
Desire Oparanozie.......Captain
Asisat Oshoala.......Assistant Captain

What happened to the elders in the Squad...? No Leadership qualities or what has Dennerby seen in this two that he want to utilize in favour of the Team...any View.

2003 Set
Onome Ebi
Faith Ikidi

2007 Set
Rita Chikwelu
Tochukwu Oluehi
Oghonna Chukwudi.

2010Set
Osinachi Ohale.

I think this is to quell any bad blood in the team. Obviously the so called old players have not been able to agree on captain, and captaincy is not by age actually. It is by leadership on and off the pitch. Maybe Dennerby has seen that Oparanozie and Oshoala have shown good team spirit and always put teams first.

Good to see the team has settled in in Reims. Had light training this morning according to Ann Odong, @fifawwc_nga. She is really on her game when it comes to updating about Super Falcons in France. Give her a follow.

Also, I think it is shameful that NFF employed Jane Nweze as team spox and reporter, but she is not doing her job well at all. This team deserves a media savvy, enthusiastic person as spox. It is a shame that all of NFF's appointed team media officers are just there by name. You only see them at press conferences.

Go Super falcons.

Super falcons pre-world cup preparation since January 2019. Played 14, won 10, lost 4.
Biggest lost margin 3-0, to China in Dennerby's first game against strong opposition. I watched that match and the scoreline flatters China. We played well, without key players like Oshoala .
2nd 3-0 margin was from 1st match of Cyprus cup. We got a red card early in the game and the team basically fell. Still the girls created plenty of chances upfront, with Oshoala missing much.
Next losses after that period was 1-0 to Belgium. Tight game. Then 2-1 to Canada. Another tight game we lost concentration in 2nd half.

Others were wins against smaller sides..We beat Thailand, Slovakia and Romania. I think the team has moved forward a lot from the 3-0 loss to China.

The team's itinerary is that they arrive France today and head straight to Reims where they will lodge till they play Norway on Saturday.
I hope NFF gets the logistics right and the ladies have time to rest and get used to French weather. The weather should be OK and above 20 for most of the month, so no problem.

My opening match preview:
France vs South Korea: Cagey match and if France 98 is anything to go by, then I think this might end in a draw. France also has injury to about FIVE key players, who are expected to be fit in time to play Norway. I will go for a draw or a low scoring win.

Nigeria vs Norway: This match will be very open, and Nigeria will be the team on the backfoot for most of the match due to Dennerby's fears. This game will probably see at least 3 goals before half time. Almost certain that Nigeria will concede a set piece goal. My heart says 3-2 Nigeria win, my head says 3-1 Norway win. Norway will ONLY win if Dennerby continues to put organisation above attacking play. We need the balance and I hope he realises it. This is where foreign coaches become a problem, because they dont believe in us as much as we believe in ourselves. They are realistic with expectations, while we are always expecting to win. Our last WWC win was in 2011 against Canada.

elyte89:
U can't bench a team captain

Thank you! More so, Oparanozie is no pushover. She will work defenders and wear them down while Kanu is a good impact sub.

Dedetwo:
This teams looks like Nigerian male U20 team currently vying for exit from FIFA tournament.

NO sir. This team is the most successful Nigerian team today. Even in the face of adversity, they always turn up.

isan:
in Canada 2015 nigeria conceded 6 goals 5 was from set pieces

Even against Canada, 2 set pieces in 2nd half, 2 goals. It is a big problem.

6-2. Another goal from SA counter attack. Oshoala will be rubbing her palms with these Norwagean wing backs. Lacking pace and cant tackle.
Katlana uses pace, gets inside box, squares ball, goal.

Set pieces are their strong points. Typical Africans fumbling at set pieces.

Now 5-1, as soon as I saw the Norwagean high press, I knew they will chop goals. I am actually now very happy to play them with Oshoala, Ordega and Oparanozie up front. Let them try high press with us.

As I was typing, it became 6-1

2nd half underway. I doubt Norway will up the tempo. I think this Norway team is very good o. We need maximum strength and luck to beat them.

isan:
Norway walking over south Africa

43 minute -

south Africa 0 - 5 Norway

Fire on the mountain ooo.

I will love to watch Norway's friendly vs South Africa tonight. They play in about 30 minutes. Hopefully that can help gauge how far Norway has prepared. I wont be surprised if they beat SA due to their strength.

Schemerkhiz:
Chinaza Uchendu could possibly be the one... She can play as a center back too...
She played as a center back against Spain at the FIFA U20 Women's World Cup in 2016

I think the coach reverted to a 4-4-2. We may play 4-4-2 in some periods if we are chasing the game.

Oshoala coming through as the expected star of the team. Its good to have someone like that in tournaments like this. If she's not scoring, at least she can draw opponents to her and free up Oparanozie and Ordega.

isan:
this line up is strong is he playing 433?

3-5-2 as usual


Nnadozie
Faith Micheal Ohale Onome

Chikwelu Ayinde
Okobi
Ordega Ebere

Oshoala Oparanozie

That should be their average position. Plenty expected of Ebere and Ordega in tracking back, but I think Oshoala will also be switching positions with Ordega.

BascoVanVeli:
Abeg dem no try. The team need to know where they are and what they can correct or cover up before the world cup. They won't get that facing a club and even the Slovakia was even pushing it because we needed a strong match.

I fully understand you. I think a strong team will be good, but I also think its not that bad. Maybe we can assume the only strong team we played was Canada and we had a good game in the first half.
I think for now, the players should just avoid unnecessary injuries and enjoy themselves. I was in Paris yesterday and it was quite warm, around 25 degrees. If the weather stays like that, we should have a good tournament.
I sincerely hope this 2 weeks intensive camping has opened Dennerby's eyes as to which players best suit his game. I wont be surprised if his starting line up is different to that of AWCON final. He will pick the most disciplined players.

BascoVanVeli:
Super falcons to play a Slovakian club not the national team?

Well at all at all n.a. him bad pass.
I think any good team is ok to practice tactics on. A team that isn't going to press them hard will allow for focus on positioning and correct linkage.
Less than 7 days to our first match. I don't know but I'm quite confident of Nigeria getting to next round.
Nigeria and Cameroon will qualify

Spanishmilf:
u don't have an international passport you have not travel out of Nigeria before and you are here in this comment section as if UK Don do u bad before mtcheeew

I lived in UK for the best part of a decade, but what exactly is your argument?

No serious minded Nigerian youth will decide to go study in UK in this climate. The standard of their universities are dropping and they ONLY see international students as cashcows now. Job prospects are nearly zero after studies, plus you get the whole racist country on your back. I think other European countries are open and more welcoming. Canada is also very welcoming.
Dont go spend millions in studying in one lowly ranked UK university where the locals see you as an enemy. It always ends in regret. Speak with your cash.

naptu2:
Asisat Oshoala Signs For Barcelona Till 2022.

https://www.nairaland.com/5218688/asisat-oshoala-signs-barcelona-till

The least she deserves

I'll rather you keep your salary and not touch people's money. If the pension funds were used judiciously we won't need your salary sir.

PDPGuy:
I would like a combo of Maureen Madu and Dedevbo to coach the team once Dennerby’s contract expires.

Any lady with Dedevbo is fine. He's a good man. I think NFF should start sponsoring ex female footballers to shadow coaches worldwide. Ďennerby is like a foundation. He can't take us far. Dedevbo can.

ykalhaji:
Looking at our ladies and even the players that played for both Lyons and Barcelona, omo we look way more fit than them.

I think it's normal as they've had few days intensive training. Training twice a day will raise levels.
Arsenal played 3-5-2 And got exposed badly because the midfield was over run. If you can't hold midfield in a formation like that then dint use it. I'm glad we have Ayinde and Okobi who are hard-working.

isan:
I was scratching my head reading that article like when do super falcons ever play 442 or 451 ?

This is a better article:
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/29/football/nigeria-super-falcons-thomas-dennerby-asisat-oshoala-womens-world-cup-spt-intl/index.html

Some quotes from the coach on how we will play.
"The feeling is it's going to be hard to score against us,"
"If we can get to the knockout stages this year we will be very happy about that. Maybe we can be a nightmare for our opponents. If they think 'we can beat Nigeria, they're only ranked 39' my opinion, and that's from the heart, we're definitely better than the ranking we have.

Sam Allardyce of Nigerian female football.

isan:
the u20 women world cup next will be very important to the future of the super falcons i hope NFF act fast and appoiont peter dedevbo has their coach ..from that tournament we need to discover atleast 2 central defender , a left back , right back and 2 decent mildfielders

We have abundance of talent for the next U20. If the NFF is serious, they will appoint Dedevbo because he is very apt in his understanding of football. In fact, I think he should be the next falcons coach.

naptu2:
https://amp.theguardian.com/football/2019/may/28/womens-world-cup-2019-team-guide-no-4-nigeria?__twitter_impression=true

The writer is not a keen follower of Nigerian female football. I think only Sam Ahmadu has been keenly up to date with womens football. Imagine saying the team plays 4-4-2, something we havent played in a long long time.
I expect that by next week, all these lazy journalists who have been watching the team from afar will start giving lazy opinion on how the team plays. A lot will be surprised that we now play like Burnley, while they expect us to play like Crystal Palace.
I just hope they dont over criticize the ladies.

isan:
I just think they will need tune up games and also this is the first time the coach will have a full squad

From the line ups yesterday, it looked like the whole team is now understanding the 3-5-2 formation well. I heard the coach changed the whole team in the 2nd half.
Slovakia will be another opportunity to practice the system against a decent, but not hard opposition.

I'm happy for the friendly. Hopefully, the coaches were able to fine tune the formation well. Looking forward to Sunday's friendly against Slovakia. Another chance to fine tune team cohesion and communication. Results dont matter in games like this.

Lovely pix. They have a match today in an hour time against an Hungarian club. Quite good to see than Ini Umotong is still around the team. I think world cup allows 3 or so reserve players.

DerideGull:
I think this horrible Nigerian U20 team will perform better than the Nigerian Falcons. In fact, I have no intention to watch any of their matches.

'to perform' is subjective. A team can perform like Barca and lose to a compact team like Villareal. For me, I am quite pleased that we now have a team that is at least taking a particular shape. The usual chaotic attack attack of Nigerian football has only won us 1 world cup match in almost 12 years.
For me, let this team be compact and attack with devastating purpose. We can then start to win 1-0 with 40% possession. Thats better than losing 3-1 with 65% possession. Moreso, these ladies can turn to any style if allowed to.

googlZa86e5:
NIGERIA LOSSING 2-0 VS USA | FIFA UNDER 20 WORLD CUP....THIS BOYS ARE GOING NOWHERE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avCIfT8nats

The team showed exactly why Dennerby was right to focus on team compactness. They were just chasing shadows in that game. Whats the point in useless attacking football when you are open at the back.

Anyways this thread is about the beautiful Falcons. This is probably Oluehi's last world cup. Nnadozie looking to move to a foreign club will be a good thing for us. I'm sure Dennerby can recommend her to his coach friends. She needs international exposure. Onyiye Okeke was a promising goalie, but it seems she's dropped form. She will be challenging Nnadozie in coming years.