By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
It is no longer news that Nigeria’s Women’s Football League (NWFL) Premiership reigning champions, Delta Queens football club of Asaba suffered a 1-0 defeat in the hands of their opponents from Ghana, Ampem Darkoa Ladies FC in the final of WAFU-B Qualifiers for the 2023 CAF Women’s Champions League at Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium Benin City, Edo state on Thursday.
By losing the final match to Ampem Darkoa in the six-team competition, Delta Queens failed to pick the ticket to represent West Africa Zone B in the biggest continental women’s football competition billed for Cote d’Ivoire later this year.
Sadly, it will be the first time a Nigerian club will not feature in the newly introduced competition by the continent’s football governing body CAF to promote the game in African.
But for Delta Queens football club, it is a case of “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”, apologies to Benjamin Franklin (USA) and Sir Winston Churchill (UK). This is because the management of the club failed to do the needful and should be blamed for the inability of the team to win the competition hosted at their backyard.
Prompt News can exclusively report that the management of the club were warned ahead of the competition in Benin City of the need to beef up the squad with quality players following the not too convincing performance of Delta Queens in the NWFL Premiership 2023 Super Six which the club won on home turf.
The club funded by the oil-rich Delta state government won its first Nigerian league title in 11 years with a 2-1 win over 2021/2022 Super Six winners, Bayelsa Queens on Sunday, June 12, 2023 at Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba. It was a nail-biting victory over hard-fighting Bayelsa Queens who themselves wanted to win to return to the continent this year.
Head Coach Tosan Blankson’s side battled from a goal down to equalise and scored a winner late on to emerge champions of the 2022/2023 Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) Premiership Super Six at the expense of Bayelsa Queens.
After seeing the underbelly of the palm wine tapper, like my wise-old father would say, what he serves as palm wine in his bar distaste me. This means that the overall performance of Delta Queens in the Super Six final in Asaba was not impressive at all.
However, the club’s hierarchy was adequately briefed on the need to beef up the squad with quality players following not too impressive performance of the team during the regular league and Super Six play-off. Key members of the management and state government’s officials were reached and the noticeable problems of the club laid bare for them to be fixed.
They were adviced to among other things, to recruit quality players from other clubs to fortify the team as there are indications that many top players in the just concluded women’s football league wanted to play in the CAF Women’s Champions League hence many will not reject new offers to join Delta Queens FC.
The top echelon of Delta Queens were reminded the need to beef up the four departments of the team namely- goalkeeping, defence, midfield and attack and by so doing the club would have presented a stronger squad than represented the club in the just concluded WAFU B tournament in Benin City.
There was no reason the management of Delta Queens failed to recruit quality players from Super Six top four finishers- Bayelsa Queens of Yenagoa; Rivers Angels of Port Harcourt and Confluence Queens of Lokoja. Good players can also be recruited from FC Robo of Lagos, Nasarawa Amazons of Lafia and Naija Ratels of Abuja to add to what the club had alteady.
Perhaps, Coach Blankson could have used the new acquisition to beef up the squad he presented at the WAFU-B tournament in Benin City and the club could have defeated Ampem Darkoa, Ghana champions that came quite prepared to avenge the 3-0 loss to Nigeria’s Bayelsa Queens in the final of the 2022 WAFU B tournament as Bayelsa Queens qualified for the last CAF Women’s Champions League.
Investigations revealed that Ampem Darkoa Ladies Football Club from Techiman, Bono East Region of Ghana, after the disappointment of not qualifying for the CAF Women’s Champions League last year recruited the best legs from even Nigeria by signing on former Bayelsa Queens and Sunshine Queens star, Ginika Ike to beef up the squad. READ ALSO:
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But Delta Queens failed to plan ahead of the competition and the result of the management’s ability to act on the advice made available to it has once again exposed the penchant of managers of the country’s sports not to look at the bigger pictures for selfish reasons.
They preferred to do the wrong things then count on mother luck to achieve unmerited success just as Nigerian sports managers lack professionalism and will stand in the way of anyone who wants to force them to do the right thing.
This is the crux of the matter as the country’s sports continue to suffer in the hands of mediocre administrators foisted on the nation by corrupt politicians who are in the corridors of power.
