After a midmorning training session that lasted a little over two hours in the City of Grenoble Sports Stadium today, Super Falcons Head Coach Thomas Dennerby is optimistic that Nigeria will get a favorable result against South Korea on June 12 in a make or burst match in Grenoble.
Dennerby disclosed that his optimism stems from the seriousness shown by the players in their first training session today (Monday) in Grenoble ahead of Sunday’s crucial match between Nigeria and South Korea.
In a brief chat immediately after the training session, Dennerby revealed that he could feel the heartbeat of his players and can now believe that they are eager to start winning games in the ongoing 8th FIFA Women’s World Cup final in France.
“To be honest with you, the players are hungry to start winning football matches in France and you can see the fire in their eyes. They know that they made huge mistakes in the game against Norway but now they are proving in the training that they want to beat South Korea”, Dennerby said.
The Swedish tactician and his assistants had taken the players through their paces and then went into tactical play to see how well they have received the tutorials given to them after two unpardonable mistakes helped Norway to defeat Nigeria 3-0 in their first match in Reims.
All the players save for the injured right back, Faith Ikhidi-Michael who had a collision with her own goalkeeper, Tochukwu Oluehi during the match against Norway trained on Monday with some of them like skipper, Desire Oparanozie; FC Barcelona forward Asisat Oshoala and younger attackers-Chinwendu Ihezuo and Uchenna Kanu looking clinical in front of the goalpost.
Goalkeepers, Oluehi, Chiamaka Nnadozie and Alaba Jonathan kept busy in all the routine but the coaches later gave more time to Nnadozie and Jonathan in goal to be drilled by the attackers even as Kanu was further singled out to for a special training on accurate shooting and nodding.
The team will train again tomorrow but this time the training session will be inside the match stadium in Grenoble.
