By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
As Nigerians, especially women’s football followers struggle to come to terms with the dismal performance of the dethroned African Champions, Super Falcons of Nigeria at the just concluded 12th CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in Morocco, Harry Awurumibe, Africa’s No.1 Women’s Football Journalist, in this report x-rays an article written by veteran journalist, Akinbode (Bode) Oguntuyi, Sports Anchor at SportVision Nigeria.
Oguntuyi who is also a Contributor, ESPN-Africa and Editor, Booday10.com, had given five points to ponder on the future of Super Falcons in his write-up which he posted on his Facebook page shortly after Morocco defeated Nigeria 5-4 via penalty shoot-out in the semi-final match to stop the Super Falcons from reaching the final and having a chance to win the WAFCON trophy for the 10th time.
In his article, Oguntuyi who was one of the few Nigerian sports journalists who formed the highly successful Female Football Interest Group (FFIG) in Lagos to encourage the development and promotion of women’s football in Nigeria and Africa, praised the team’s resilience in the encounter with Morocco after two key players Halimat Ayinde and Rasheedat were red carded.
He, however, argued that
while some may contest the point, and insist that any argument as to the supremacy of the Nigerian Super Falcons is futile still, a couple of points are worth noting.
According to him: “The first is that while in the past any boast about the supremacy of the Falcons is loud, and accompanied by effusive chest-beating; the boast these days is delivered in a whisper with no braggadocio, and no chest thumping involved”.
“The other point is, while the Falcons continue to win on the continent, the deluge of goals that they used to deliver has dried up; like the boasts. Most victories are now scrappy, dour, one goal affairs that usually had fans watching with their hearts in their mouths during the game; and both analysts and fans engaging in exhaustive, ‘lamentative analysis’ after the game”.
“The fact is: The Falcons are no longer guaranteed places at global tournaments. While it is true that the Falcons will be at next FIFA Womens World Cup in Australia, the 9th consecutive one they will attend (the most by any country in Africa, and one of the best attendance records in the world), the tension before the game against Cameroon (victory in that game guaranteed qualification) and the effusive celebrations which followed, showed how far the needle had moved…because the story had changed. The proof is in the Olympics”.
Going down the memory lane, Oguntuyi restated that “the Falcons qualified for the Olympics for the first time in 2000, and went on to represent the continent in the next two Olympics of 2004 and 2008, since then nothing. The famed “most powerful Women’s Team on the continent” has not been to any Olympics since 2008”.
“They were knocked out of contention by Cameroon on the road to the 2012 Olympics, Equatorial Guinea were the blockers for the 2016 event, and Ivory Coast were the destroyers of the 2020 Olympics dream. That’s three consecutive missed Olympics.
How long before the virus of these missed tournaments spread to “our birthright”, the FIFA Womens World Cup?”
But for any sincere patriotic Nigerian especially women’s football followers, the most striking point made by Oguntuyi in his post was the assertions that Nigerians are thankful that the world football governing body FIFA allotted Africa four automatic tickets for next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand else Nigeria would not have qualified for the global football fiesta if fewer numbers are given to the continent.
Said he: “We are thankful there are now more than two places assigned to Africa at the World Cup, the Olympics (which still retains the two places for CAF format) has shown that when the chips are down, maybe the Falcons are not in the African Top two anymore”.
This writer agrees with him when he argued that: “The South African Women’s Team has been on the rise…
The question now: Is it time to borrow a leaf from other African countries? Yes, you read that right; borrow a leaf from other African countries…that was their first response to the dominance of the Falcons”.
“The early victories of the Falcons was majorly because the Nigeria Women were physically stronger than most of their opponents; we simply brushed them aside.
They soon sussed this, and built up their strength. This helped many nations and contributed to the reduction of the heavy deficit they usually record against Nigeria (The Falcons wiped Morocco 8-0 when they met at the first tournament in 1998, it was 6-0 in the 2000 edition). Consider the fact that the Falcons scored 28 goals and conceded none on the march to the 1998 title; four years later in 2002 they scored ‘just’ 15 and conceded two – and lost a game to Ghana in the Group stages”.
He also stated clearly that: “other African teams added grit to their game but the Falcons still had the joker of extravagantly talented players: Florence Omagbemi, Mercy Akide, Perpetua Nkwocha Ann Chiejine and many oters that came through after these ones left the scene. Effionwan Ekpo Vera Okolo, Cynthia Uwuak”.
“Then the likes of Ghana, South Africa and Cameroon started discovering and grooming their own version of talented stars: Veronica Phewa was a phenomenon, Mavis Djangmah shone for Ghana, and Equatorial Guinea jumped the queue with their band of Nigerian and Brazilian imports…and it became clear that African football had advanced. But the Falcons remained largely still invincible even though they were now facing stiffer challenges’.
“So the other (smart) countries started a methodical scouting and developmental program: we can see the results from South Africa, Mali, Ghana, Morocco, Zambia, Tunisia even Botswana”.
“Now it is clear that all the advantages Nigeria and the Falcons have, are disappearing. It is time to reverse the trend”.
…. To be continued
