By Harry Awurumibe
After seven times appearance at the quadrennial Women’s World Cup final organized by the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) without making any appreciable impact, Nigeria’s senior national women’s team, Super Falcons deserve to have a world-class coach to take Nigeria to the Promised Land.
This is the submission of women’s football followers who believe that Nigeria has not done well in the seven previous appearances except in the 1999 final in the United States of America (USA) where the Nigerian team reached the quarterfinal stage before losing to Brazil through the Golden Goal rule.
The Super Falcons have been unable to dominate beyond Africa in such global competitions like the FIFA Women’s World Cup or the Olympic Games as it has done in the African Women Championship (AWC) which the team has won a record eight times and counting. The team has been to every FIFA Women’s World Cup since 1991 in China, but managed just once to finish in the top eight in USA’99. In 2003, the Falcons turned out to be the biggest disappointment of the first round, failing to score a single goal and losing all three Group Amatches. The team did little better in 2007 in China as it drew only one of its Group B matches.
The story is not difference in the country’s performance in the Olympic Games where Team Nigeria did not progress beyond the first round in Sydney 2000 Games, managed to get to quarterfinal in Athens 2004 but crashed out in the first round again in China 2008 after losing all three Group matches.
However, it must also be noted that Nigeria will always face the group of death as was the casein 200, 2003, 2007 and 2008 when the African champions were grouped with rising Asianpower North Korea, traditional European powers Sweden and Germany, a historic women’s superpower in the USA and neighbors Mexico.
The last FIFA Women’s World Cup final outing in Canada in 2015 was not better either as the star-studded Super Falcons handled by Coach Edwin Okon of Rivers Angels of Port Harcourt could only manage one draw, lost two matches, scored three and conceded six goals to finish in the 21 position out of 24 teams.
But to avoid such shambolic performance by Nigeria in France in 2019 should Nigeria qualify, stakeholders have called on the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to expedite action to appoint a highly qualified, both technically and tactically, coach to handle the Falcons this time around.
According to Tonnie Okpara, a Canada-based veteran sports journalist, ”the NFF should not make the mistake of recycling Nigerian coaches who have been found to be incapable to match the standard set by former Falcons Head Coach, Ismaila Mabo who piloted the team to the first and only quarterfinal finish in 1999 in USA”
Okpara who was former Publicity Secretary of the highly respected Female Football Interest Group (FFIG) argued that Falcons of the present time have outgrown the coaching capability of local coaches who have been given more than enough chances to prove themselves but have failed to produce better results than the feat performed by coach Mabo since 18 years ago.
Also speaking in the same vein, the ex- Team Manager/Coach of defunct Princess Jegede Babes FC of Lagos Olusegun Asheley opined that only an expatriate coach can take Super Falcons to the El Dorado. He argued that foreign coach is the best option for Nigeria for now.
Ashely who is currently residing in Atlanta, USA stated that Super Falcons have evolved and with the bulk of the Nigerian players now plying their trade abroad, there is need to appoint an experience foreign who can harness their potentials and turn them into world beaters in the next FIFA Women’s World Cup final in France.
