***Two Months After WAFCON Flop
Harry Awurumibe is Women’s Football Aficionado
Still smarting from the disappointment of losing everything Nigeria stands for in women’s football in Morocco exactly two months ago by crashing out of the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) after a quarter-final loss to Cameroon, missing the semi-finals for the first time in tournament’s history and failing to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in Brazil, Super Falcons have another opportunity to banish the ghost of the team’s first-ever failures.
This is even as the uproar that greeted Nigeria’s 1-0 loss to Cameroon in a WAFCON quarter-finals match played on Sunday, August 9, 2026 at Larbi Zaouli Stadium, Casablanca and another 2-1 defeat by South Africa in CAF/ FIFA Play-off match on Thursday, August 13, 2026 at Moulay Rachid Stadium, Casablanca, Morocco, led to the tsunami which hit the Nigeria football leading to the mass resignation of the erstwhile president Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, his Executive Board Members and General Secretary Dr. Mohammed Sanusi.
With the dust which the unprecedented failures of Super Falcons in the last WAFCON outing in Morocco yet to settle down, millions of Nigerian football fans expect the 10-time African champions to bounce back from the disappointment of not qualifying for the FIFA World Cup to pick one of the two African tickets for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games Women’s Football Tournament event.
But to achieve that singular objective, Nigeria will have to navigate the tortuous four rounds of eight matches including the double-header against Comoros to qualify for the Olympic Games back to back after making it to 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
For this reason, the Super Falcons must approach the first leg of the double-header against Comoros tomorrow at the Remo Stars Sports Stadium in Ikenne-Remo by 6 pm with the mindset of avoiding the key reasons for the Nigeria’s elimination from the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Morocco two months ago.
Prompt News can authoritatively confirm that part of the reasons Super Falcons failed to fly higher in the last WAFCON include former head coach Justine Madugu’s team’s poor finishing and missed chances against oppositions.
Statistics showed that despite dominating possession, controlling the flow of the match, and creating numerous scoring opportunities, the Super Falcons woefully failed to convert their chances.
Another soar point was Nigeria’s huge defensive errors especially on defending free-kicks just as Cameroon’s Indomitable Lionesses scored in the 20th minute when Myriam Nyadjou struck a long-range free-kick past a poorly-positioned goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie.
Also, Nigeria’s undoing was the disorganized preparations and late arrivals as reports indicated that only nine Super Falcons players traveled to Morocco together as a team, while others arrived late from their respective club bases, preventing proper fitness and tactical assessments before the tournament.
Worse still, several key players invited by ex-coach Madugu betrayed him as they entered the tournament carrying existing injuries that had to be managed on the fly because it was too late to alter the squad list.
Worthy of note was Tactical and Selection Issues as coach Madugu who a year earlier Best Coach of the Tournament at the 2024 WAFCON after leading the Super Falcons to their 10th continental title and received a historic nomination for the 2025 Ballon D’Or Women’s Team Coach of the Year, this time faced heavy criticism for his penchant for
tactical experiments–such as deploying right-sided defender Michelle Alozie out of position at left-back—and for a team structure that looked heavy and sluggish.
In fact, the Super Falcons lacked spark as the team suffered an early warning sign during the group stage with a shocking 3-2 loss to tournament debutants Malawi, signaling a deeper loss of form, administrative instability, and heavy reliance on last-minute preparations.
All the above shortcomings culminated to the team’s disastrous 2026 WAFCON outing two months ago in Morocco but rather than dwell in the past, the Super Falcons now under the tutelage of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Technical Director and former Super Eagles captain cum head coach Augustine Owen Eguavoen is expected to bounce back to the winning ways by winning convincingly when Nigeria files out against Comoros on Friday, October 9, 2026.
Already, Eguavoen popularly called Cerezo by his admirers, has in the team’s Ijebu-Ode camp a mixture of battle-ready or experienced players and budding stars who are currently doing well in their various clubs in Nigeria and abroad to choose from to execute the task ahead of him.
As an interim coach trying to rebuild “a demoralised team which lost two last matches back to back against arch-rivals Cameroon and South Africa two months ago, Eguavoen who has never handled women players before at least at this level will have to dig deep into his coaching bags of tricks to pick the winning formula in his new assignment.
Luckily, even this writer who has no coaching certificate can pick 11 Super Falcons starters and five reserves to beat Comoros or any team in Africa with the talents available to the Nigerian coach.
Therefore, it is expected that Eguavoen will feature mainly the usual suspects, except they arrived camp late for the double-header with the rookies coming into the party if Nigeria is cruising to a resounding victory on the night.
It means that fans will see goalkeeper Chiamaka Cynthia Nnadozie who may have rediscovered her old self having been regular for Brighton and Hove Albion women of England unlike the reserve Comfort Erhabor who just joined Women’s Super League side Crystal Palace Women from Portsmouth Ladies.
Also, foreign-based Michelle Alozie,
Shukurat Oladipo, Glory Ogbonna and at least one home-based player will hold the defence while captain Rasheedat Ajibade Jennifer Echegini and Christy Ucheibe will marshall the midfield.
To overwhelm a Comoros senior women’s football team that qualified to meet Nigeria at the back of an unprecedented scoreline of 30-0 aggregate, Eguavoen must deploy a three-pronged attack of the experienced trio- Uchenna Grace Kanu,
Gift Nyakno Monday and Joy Ogochukwu Omewa in a 4-3-3 Formation
This way, key roles and responsibilities for the team is that in possession, full-backs will push high to provide width, the single pivot drops to collect the ball from the center-backs, and the front three stretch the pitch or cut inside to overload central areas.
Conversel, out of possession, Super Falcons’ front three (attackers) will press the opponent’s build-up line, the midfield three compact the central space, and the team often shifts into a tight defensive shape (such as a 4-5-1).
Finally, this looks like a match the Super Falcons should use to wipe away the tears in their fans’ eyes following the 2026 WAFCON disastrous outing and 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup miss.
This is the way to go.
26 SUPER FALCONS FOR 2028 OLYMPICS QUALIFIERS CAMP:
- Shukurat Oladipo, AS Roma, Italy
- Shakirat Moshood, SCU Torreense, Portugal
- Glory Ogbonna, Beşiktaş JK, Turkey
- Omenazu Favour, MK Dons, England
- Farida Abdulwahab, Nasarawa Amazons
- Tumininu Adeshina, Edo Queens
- Joy Igbokwe, Nasarawa Amazons
- Fatimoh Solaty, Nasarawa Amazons
- Christiana Uzoma, Edo Queens
- Blessing Nkor, Dynamo Brest, Belarus
- Valentina Uroko, Edo Queens
- Glory Edet, Bayelsa Queens
- Sandra John, Rivers Queens
- Suliat Abideen, Fenerbahçe Ladies, Turkey
- Folashade ijamilusi, Lianiong Baiye,China
- Toni Payne, Inter Milan, Italy
- Ucheibe Christy, Al-Hilal, Saudi Arabia
- Akekoromowei Janet, SL Benfica, Portugal
- Ajibade Rasheedat, FW, PSG, France
- Echegini Jennifer, PSG, France
- Michelle Alozie, Chicago Stars, USA
- Chiamaka Nnadozie, Brighton Hove & Albion, England
- Gift Monday (Washington Spirit, USA
- Joy Omewa, BK Hacken, Sweden
- Uchenna Kanu, Cruz Azul Femenil, Mexico
- Comfort Erhabor, Portsmouth Ladies, England.
