Against three teams ranked above Nigeria in Fifa rankings, the Super Falcons are yet to record a single win under American Randy Waldrum.
Nigeria have conceded seven goals against Portugal, the United States and now Canada while scoring three. There have been two losses and one draw in these games.
It was always going to be tricky to gather a full house for this weekend’s friendly against Canada. Despite that, the players that were available should have been able to take the fight to the hosts.
But the Canadians, who unlike Nigeria do not have a functioning domestic women’s football league, shaded Nigeria in key stats in this morning’s match. The North Americans had 60% possession compared to Nigeria’s 40%. They had 24 shots at goal compared to Nigeria’s 4.
Canada were sharper, more composed with better developed attacking routines.
Despite the sharp contrast in stats and quality, Coach Waldrum seems to suggest that, whilst acknowledging that areas of improvement exist, his girls can go toe to toe with any other team on the planet.
“For me, the girls feel right now that they can play with anyone in the world,” said Waldrum.
Whilst that may be true, Super Falcons fans are waiting eagerly for when the Nigerian ladies can feel they can ‘defeat’ any team in the world.
For me, perhaps Waldrum should be brave enough to jettison the 5-3-2 formation against teams at the higher end of the Fifa rankings. Against Portugal, he was brave enough to deploy a formation that resembles 4-3-3.
Although Nigeria didn’t win, we scored 3 goals and recorded the only draw to date against a higher placed Fifa rankings team under Waldrum.
It is surely not for me to call but games against USA and Canada using the 5-3-2 formation have resulted in 2:0 losses with the Falcons looking lost at times in this set up.
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