Sunshine Queens head Coach, Oladimeji Abimbola has revealed his team’s level of preparedness ahead of the 2023/24 NWFL campaign following a successful outing in the just concluded pre-season tournament in Abuja when they emerged as the third-best team.
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He said the pre-season competition afforded his coaching crew the ability to completely assess the player’s capabilities as he thanked the management of the team for the opportunity to participate in the tourney.
He disclosed that the mission to the tourney was achieved, saying his crew has been able to pick the best from about 35 players they took to Abuja for the pre-season tournament.
He added that they were able to know which of the departments they would need to fortify with more quality and experienced legs.
According to him, “I have said it before that the competition is not about winning at all cost, but a means to build our new team”.
“Our aim was to give all the 35 players equal opportunity to exhibit their skills which was perfectly accomplished”.
“If we had approached the competition with the eyes in the final, we wouldn’t have lost our first and second matches against Naija Ratels and Edo Queens, because we will play the game with relatively well-known players, but we want to see all the players, so we ensured all of them has equal opportunities”.
“We lost the first two matches because the majority of the young players were jittery, but as a coach, we encouraged them, that it’s not about the results, but what they can do together as a team, that was why they were able to come from 2-0 down and drew against Honey Badgers in their third match and also won their last two matches against Ekiti Queens and Dannaz Ladies FC.”
“We are not going to be moved by the accolades we received from the organizers of the competition and other football stakeholders.
” We will remain focused on the task ahead by ensuring that we do the right thing at the right time.”
According to coach Abimbola, “If the league kicks off today, we are good to go, saying the door has not been closed towards getting three or four experienced players injected into the team as a motivator to the young players.
“Our games at the pre-season were the reference point, we were tagged the youngest, entertaining, and tactical side, but that to me doesn’t translate to winning without scoring goals, in as much that we are going to keep our game to our chest, we are saying it loud and clear that we still need to fortify the team with experienced and more skillful players.”
“We can’t pretend as if we do not know that we are in a very tough group in the Nigeria Women Football League slated to kick off next month, but when it finally starts, the results will speak for each team.”
He sought more support from the club’s supporters, saying they should be expecting the best from his team this season.
Following the successful AGM where the draw was also successfully completed, the official date for the NWFL kick-off has been slated for NWFL as 18 teams look to battle it for the crown.
The NWFL under Nkechi Obi-led board has also promised quite a handful of reformations pertaining to players’ welfare, national team participation, and European offers citing the groundbreaking partnership with Laliga amongst many others.
