By Harry Awurumibe
Nigeria’s Super Falcons crashed out of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Wednesday, July 31 after the team was handed a 3-1 defeat by Japan in their final Group C match of the women’s football event.
The 11-time African champions needed a victory with a two-goal margin to advance from the group but fell short in their effort to stay in the competition by losing yet again to the Asian giants.
Their 1-3 loss to Japan marked their biggest defeat of the tournament, concluding their first Olympics outing in 16 years without a single point.
Following 0-1 defeats to Brazil’s Canarinhas and Spain La Roja in their previous two matches, the former African champions were expected to deliver a strong performance against the Asian champions.
However, the Nadeshiko quickly took control, scoring two goals within ten minutes of each other as Mika Hamano opened the scoring for Japan in the 22nd minute, firing past goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie.
Forward Mina Tanaka, who has always scored against Nigeria doubled the lead in the 32nd minute, leaving the nine-time African champions with a daunting challenge.
But Jennifer Echegini offered a glimmer of hope with a brilliant strike just before halftime, making it 2-1, although Japan restored their two-goal advantage in added time in the first half when Hamano scored her second with a superb free-kick.
The anticipated resurgence in the second half never materialised, and the Super Falcons ended their campaign in France with just one goal scored and no points earned in their three matches.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Expectations had been high prior to Paris 2024 Olympics following Super Falcons’ perceived somewhat impressive outing in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup final in Australia and New Zealand where the team recorded two draws and a 3-2 win in the group stage to garner five points which was enough to qualify for the Round of 16.
But Nigeria was eliminated by runners-up England via penalty shoot-out after both countries played out a 0-0 draw at regulation time and have to settle for penalty kicks with England winning 4-2.
Many Nigerians believed that Super Falcons have arrived and had expected that they will fly even higher in Paris 2024 Olympics based on what they achieved a year ago
just as the head coach Randy Waldrum told the whole world that his Olympics squad was stronger than it was at the last World Cup.
WHAT WENT WRONG ?
Notwithstanding the assurances given in the foreign media by Waldrum who is based in his native country United States of America (USA), that Super Falcons is currently stronger than the team he took to the last World Cup, ardent women’s football followers knew that the Olympics squad was fractured, ill-prepared and bound to fail woefully in France.
The signs were there but Waldrum did not see it even as the Super Falcons lost 0-1 to Canada in a friendly match ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games in Sevilla, Spain on Wednesday, July 17, 2024.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in conjunction with the Sports Ministry had secured two weeks training camp in Seville and the encounter against Olympics champions Canada was to prepare the Super Falcons adequately for Paris 2024 Olympics.
However, Waldrum’s side played poorly in the Paris Olympics Women’s Football Tournament due mainly because of his poor judgement in the selection of the 18-player roster he took to France to represent Nigeria.
The current head coach of University of Pittsburgh women’s soccer team, Pittsburgh Panthers, Waldrum picked 100% foreign-based players including half dozen of players who did not play any part in Nigeria’s six matches in the Paris 2024
CAF women’s football qualifiers or only made cameo appearance for the team.
The American-born gaffer who does not live in Nigeria nor watch Nigeria Women’s Football League (NWFL) matches to scout for players surprisingly picked Lokomotiv Moscow forwards Chinonyerem Macleans; Ifeoma Onumonu of NJ/NY Gotham FC and Chinwendu Ihezuo of Mexico’s Pachucha Club de Futbol and defender Nicole Payne of PSG, France.
For the records, Russia-based Macleans was neither invited for the six matches nor played for a minute in the qualifiers while Nicole was in camp but didn’t play against South Africa.
Onumonu came for the 1st leg against South Africa with an injury and left after the game even without training.
Yet, Waldrum picked them over players who played all the six Olympics qualifying matches like reliable defender Akudo Ogbonna of Remo Stars Ladies; Spain-based forward Gift Monday; FC Reims of France defender Rofiat Imuran and attacker Esther Onyenazide.
Others who prosecuted the Olympics qualifiers but were dropped by the Super Falcons coach are Jumoke Alani, Okuchukwu Chiamaka, Motunrayo Ezekiel, Morufa Ademola and goalkeepers Linder Giwanku and Christiana Obia.
Another bad mistake Waldrum made was to replace the injured midfielder Halimatu Ibrahim Ayinde with a forward Onumonu instead of going for like for like replacement to balance his squad which was already brimming with attackers.
To make matters worse, Nigeria faced reigning
world champions Spain, former champions and Olympics Silver medalists Japan and South American powerhouse Brazil in Group C. These three teams ranks higher than Nigeria in the FIFA World Ranking.
The trio are stronger than Canada, Republic of Ireland and Australia that Nigeria faced in the last FIFA Women’s World Cup final which the coach based his argument that Super Falcons will do better in Paris 2024 Olympics than they did in Australia last time out.
HOW THE COOKIES CRUMBLED
Prior to the kick off of Paris 2024 Olympics women’s football tournament in France, majority of 18 invited
Super Falcons players arrived Sevilla camp late as the few who travelled from Nigeria had to wait for several days before starting serious training as invited players trickle into camp.
In fact, it took seven days of the 14 days training camp in Seville for Waldrum to have full camp as the likes of Macleans, Ihezuo, Uchenna Kanu and Oluwatosin Demehin arrived less than 48 hours before the team departed for France.
On arrival in Bordeaux, the team took one day off to shake off the stress of long trip from Spain and had to train fully for 24 hours before their first game against Brazil at the Stade Bordeaux on July 25, before the confrontations with Spain on July 28 at Stade de la Beaujoire in Nantes which they lost 1-0 each to their opponents.
It was therefore a tough call for Waldrum’s side to get a favourable result from the final group match against Japan on Tuesday, July 31.
WALDRUM’S SCORECARD IN PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS
Although coach Randy Waldrum can claim to have qualified the Nigeria fir the Paris 2024 Olympics Women’s Football Tournament after 16 years hiatus, the trio of indigenous coaches Justin Madugu, Ann Agumanu-Chiejine and goalkeeper trainer Auwal Makwalla, actually held forth when the head coach was on AWOL.
Nigeria started the Paris 2024 Olympics CAF qualifiers in the second round with a tricky double-header against Ethiopia on October 25 with a 1-1 draw in Addis Ababa and followed it up with 4-0 thrashing of Ethiopia without Waldrum in the dugout at Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja in the return leg on October 3, 2023.
He only rejoined the team in the 3rd round matches against Cameroon and then the goals dried up with the Super Falcons unable to score a goal in the first leg in Douala and managed a lone goal in the return leg in Abuja to qualify for the last round match-up against South Africa. READ ALSO:
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Also, Nigeria laboured to a 1-0 win over South Africa in Abuja in the first leg tie and battled to a barren draw in Pretoria to edge the South Africans out of the Paris 2024 Olympics women’s football event which the failed to progress beyond the group stage.
Waldrum-led team lost all their three games, conceding five and scoring just one goal, after 16 years of searching for an Olympic Games return.
▪️3 Games
▪️3 losses
▪️5 Goals conceded
▪️1 Goal scored
Indeed, his time as Super Falcons coach has endured several torrid moments as he has been unable to win a silverware after four years of leading Nigeria’s senior women’s football team Super Falcons.
- Awurumibe, is Nigeria’s Women Football Expert
