It is no longer news that the Super Falcons have qualified for the 2018 AWCON final.
It is not a new thing to an average Nigerian football fan if the Super Falcons wins the the trophy for a record 9th time,National Daily learnt.
What is new and very strange to millions of football fans in Nigeria is the fact that the Super Falcons parked the bus against Cameroon.
The ball was played most of the time of the 120 minutes at the half of the Nigerian ladies and the players defended all through, bidding their time for the lottery of penalty kicks.
Football pundits and fans did not watch the dreaded Super Falcons of Nigeria in action against Cameroon , rather it was a fearful, jittery and uncoordinated team that paraded itself on the pitch to the dismay of Nigerians and lovers of Nigerian brand of football all over the world.
To imagine that Thomas Dennerby, the coach of the Super Falcons earns over $22,500.00 every month and what he could do in a crucial semi final clash was to unleash unfit players that lacked speed and looking very heavy, in disarray and unable to make three passes as a team leaves so much desired.
A coach who earns such financial entitlements as salary should improve on what the local coaches did with Super Falcons in the past.
Unfortunately, improvement will be far from the Super Falcons if the Nigeria Football Federation continues with the shoddy preparations of the team for crucial tournaments like the AWCON and the World Cup.
The players can use their experience and fear factor to grind result on the African soil as it happened yesterday against Cameroon, but the World Cup is a different ball game entirely.
National Daily learnt that Asisat Oshola of Super Falcons in action against Cameroon so when a coach like Dennerby, a very sound tactician based on his pedigree as the former coach of Sweden earns $22,500.00 monthly in Nigeria and he was not given the needed environment to prepare the team adequately for AWCON, what you will get is bus parking tactics when playing against a very dangerous team like Cameroon.
Playing ugly, parking the bus or enterprising play may not really matter so long that the objective is achieved at the end of play. Result is what matters in football and Dennerby and his players got the desired result needed to qualify for AWCON final.
He may park the bus again on Saturday against South Africa and still end up winning the trophy if mother luck smiles on Nigeria, but parking the bus against strong teams in the world of women’s football like United States, Germany, France if the fixtures pairs Nigeria against these teams at the world cup will definitely spell doom for the Super Falcons in France.
Winning the AWCON will only be new to Dennerby and the new players in the team. What Nigerians wants to see in the Super Falcons is a team that can compete against the best on the world stage. A team that will parade a very effective mobile players on the field, well coordinated and very capable of hurting any team at France 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Amaju Melvin Pinnick, President of NFF.Failure from the NFF to create an enabling environment to transform the Super Falcons through quality friendly games ahead of the World Cup in France will only confirm the fact that $22,500.00 Dennerby earns monthly is an exercise in futility and can be seen as a scam in the development of women football in Nigeria.