Is Justine Madugu Tactical Sound To Defeat Either Morocco or Zambia in Wafcon Quarter Finals?

As hugely successful as hugely successful coaches like Pep Guardiola of Manchester City have been, many have accused them of over-thinking.

"Pep Guardiola has a history of (overthinking), overcomplicating and self-sabotaging." Wrote Thomas Hindle of Goal.com in 2023.

"Stretching back to his time at Bayern Munich, Pep's penchant for tinkering has seen his sides lose important contests, or crash out of competitions despite being clear favourites." Hindle concluded.

The Guardian, The New York Times and Sky Sports are just a few other media outlets that have attributed instances where Guardiola's Manchester City had surrendered the meal of victory to the gaping, waiting mouth of defeat, dumbfoundingly, due to overthinking.

At times, simplicity might be sufficient to sail into the stratosphere of success.

I think Super Falcons interim coach Madugu is keeping things simple.

As the Super Falcons stand on the precipice of locking horns with one of the two titans that slayed them in the last Wafcon, Morocco or Zambia, they do so with anxiety shrouding the competence of their coach.

He is accused of being out of his depths, with his Super Falcons playing with zero pattern, zero discipline, zero coordination, zero organisation and heading for the pit of doom, disgrace and disgust.

Well, I disagree (ha! ha!).

His team clearly has a pattern, a structure, an identity and a discernible approach. In the 2 games played, I could discern a 4-3-3 structure with creative outlets from attacking midfielders and 2 wingers, aided and abetted by overlapping fullbacks.

He also has to go down, thus far, as the only coach in Super Falcons history to deploy his substitutions to devastating effects.

A lot of fans remain unconvinced which is understandable. Many of the same fans were uncomfortable with Randy Waldrum's pragmatic style of play at times, so it's really hard to please people.

You can't teach old dogs new tricks as even I am aware of Madugu's low tactical ceiling . My worry is, now that the other coaches in this Wafcon know what Madugu is tactically about, will he be able to evolve? Will he be able to adapt? What other transformational tricks has he got up his coaching sleeves?

Old fashioned practical football, with an emphasis on roles, rather than responsibility, an emphasis on functions, rather than processes, an emphasis on specialisation rather than integration, still has a place in modern football in my humble opinion. I yearn for the football I grew up watching in the 90s making a comeback and making it to the podium. Enough of this overthinking tactical methodologies.

This practical football seems agree with how our ladies want to play; one gets the impression that the likes of Plumptre, Okoronkwo, Echegini, Ihezuo, Ohale and even Abiodun are enjoying "expressing themselves" within the framework of a formation that is not overthought, one that doesn't require them as players to overthink.

Simplicity has been the best policy. Wingers as wingers, full backs as full backs, midfielders tackling as they like and defenders launching cruise missiles: happy players all round.

For me, a bit more discipline, higher levels of focus and concentration, enhanced cohesion, better decision making and a slight tweak to the starting 11 can do no harm.

I am in no way scared of either Morocco or Zambia, may the best woman win, on the day.