Nigeria’s female national team, Super Falcons are heading for an overhaul ahead of their next match in the Africa Women Cup of Nations qualifiers, where they are scheduled to tango Cote d’Ivoire early next year, megasportsarena.com reports.
A strong hint in this direction was provided by secretary-general of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Dr Mohammed Sanusi, who stated categorically that the soccer governing body plans to ‘rejuvenate’ the Falcons.
Although he did not provide details of the plan to rejig the squad, probably in the technical department or players, Sanusi declared emphatically that the team should be doing better than has been seen of them in recent time.
He based his verdict on last weekend’s narrow escape, in which the Falcons lost several scoring chances and ambled to a 1-0 loss against Ghana’s Black Queens, but qualified for the next stage of the AWCON qualifiers courtesy of their 2-0 win during the first leg played in Lagos.
Although the NFF top shot congratulated the Falcons for scaling into the final round of the qualifiers, he stressed that the squad needs to perform better on the pitch and get more satisfactory results.
He warned that they will have to do much better in their next game against Cote d’Ivoire’s Lady Elephants, who eliminated the Falcons from the Tokyo Olympic Games qualifiers and recently walloped Niger Republic 9-0.
The NFF scribed stressed that there is room for improvement in the Falcons’ output, as they struggled over the two legs against The Black Queens, hence the football body’s move to commence arrangements to reinvigorate the team.
Sanusi stated: “I will start by congratulating the team for the victory over the Black Queens of Ghana. It was a sweet one given the rivalry between our two countries in the game, which dates back to 70 years.
“Notwithstanding, there are deficiencies that we must deal with squarely and without any ambiguity in order that the team will be ready for the challenges ahead.
“The Super Falcons can, and should, exhibit far greater marksmanship. We have the players at home and abroad to outrun and outplay any team on the African continent, and even compete favourably on the world stage.
“That is why we have to make the move to reinvigorate the team ahead of the final round of qualifiers against Cote d’Ivoire. The rejuvenation is with an objective for better focus, commitment and productivity.”
