The Super Falcons of Nigeria, under the guidance of Head Coach Randy Waldrum, have made a promising start to their Olympic qualifying campaign. The team secured a 1-0 victory against South Africa in the first leg of the qualifier at Moshood Abiola Stadium.
Waldrum expressed satisfaction with the team’s performance, praising their confidence and composure. “We controlled the match,” he said, estimating that the possession was probably 60-40 in their favor. He also noted that they minimized South Africa’s opportunities, allowing them only two chances in the match.
Despite the victory, some Nigerians felt that the 1-0 scoreline was not enough. In response, Waldrum said, “I understand it. I don’t think we struggled in the match at all. We controlled the match. We were never really in danger.”
He admitted that the team’s finishing could have been better and would have loved to score more goals.
Two players who stood out in the match were Chiwendu and Chidinma Okeke. Waldrum was extremely pleased with both. He praised Okeke’s defensive performance, especially considering she had recently recovered from an injury. “The back four, I thought was really good and she was clearly very strong for us,” he said.
Chiwendu’s performance was particularly noteworthy. Waldrum described her performance as the best of any striker they’ve had. “I just love the way she got behind the defense every time. Defensively, she put pressure on the center backs. The goal came from her running 50 yards to chase a ball down in the box to get fouled,” he said.
Head Coach Randy Waldrum of the Super Falcons of Nigeria has addressed the challenges faced by the team’s strikers in scoring goals. He believes that the issue stems from the lack of time to train and develop chemistry within the national team, unlike their club teams where they train regularly and understand their teammates’ movements.
Waldrum explained, “We come in and by the time we arrive we’re playing the match two days later and so we don’t really have that time to play together.” He cited the example of Chiwendu, who played as the number nine for the first time and had never played with Rasheedat or Kanu in the front line before. He urged fans to understand that cooperation between players takes time to develop.
Despite the challenges, Waldrum remains confident about the team’s chances of qualifying for the Olympics. He assured Nigerians, “We’ll go into this the same way, will be confident… We still have the same players that we had on Friday night against their players on Friday night. So our players know what’s at stake. They know we’re one game away from achieving their goal of getting to Paris. And I feel confident in our players that we have that. We’ll go get the result.”
The Super Falcons Will travel to South Africa to play the second leg on Tuesday evening and will be able to finish the job and qualify for the Olympics in Paris Later this year.
