By Victor Kanayo
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the Head Coach of Super Falcons, Randy Waldrum, are currently at daggers edge over preparation ahead of the upcoming 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The Super Falcons are placed in Group B alongside Australia, the Republic of Ireland, and Canada after the competition’s draw some weeks ago.
The nine-time African champions will kick off their campaign on July 21 against Canada at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne. They will take on Australia in their second match on July 27 at Lang Park, Brisbane, and round off preliminary assignments on July 31 against the Republic of Ireland at Lang Park, Brisbane
The current feud between the NFF and Waldrum reared up less than one month to the kick off of the mundial scheduled for Australia and New Zealand between July 20 and August 20.
Waldrum Allegations
First, it was coach Waldrum, an American tactician who granted an interview with the Sounding Off on Soccer with John Krysinsky podcast, and without mincing words, heaped blames on the NFF hierarchy for “poor preparation” in the build-up to the global soccer competition.
Part of his allegations captured by Heritage Times HT reads, “It’s great for me as a coach and for the team to qualify and play in the World Cup, but I have mixed emotions because I know we’re not prepared the way we need to be, and I’m very frustrated with the Federation in recent months, most especially in recent weeks, and the lack of support from them at different levels because we qualified early and you’d expect the Federation to put more time into preparing for this, and that hasn’t been the case.
“We have players coming from all over the world; some of them ended their season in May, and as a team, we’re supposed to plan with them to find a way to keep them fit and in form. Some of them have had club seasons running into June as well, so trying to see how we can get access to these players and how to get them from their respective club countries to Nigeria or Australia isn’t in any way easy. We’re talking about 20–24 hours of sleep, and we must grab visas for everybody.
“The hard part is, we were supposed to have an initial camp in Nigeria for about ten to twelve days before heading out to Australia to have another ten to fifteen days of camp, but for whatever reason, the federation cancelled the camp in Nigeria. So instead of being able to look at all the players, we were also going to bring in a few more players as well and see those we had question marks about, but that didn’t happen, so I just had to pick a final 23 from the last camp, and that was a massive blow to us.
“When we played in AFCON, we ended up losing to Morrocco. We had two players ejected in the second half with about thirty minutes still left to play, so we had to play thirty minutes, short of two players, before going into extra time with just nine players, and they did a great job because we lost the game on penalties. After the game, the team had two days to train, but they boycotted and didn’t come out of the hotel room because they had not been paid. No training, no recovery, and we had to play Zambia in the third-place decider, so the federation came in and met with the team and explained why they had not been able to pay and how they could move forward, and they wanted feedback from the players. One of my goalkeepers, Tochukwu Oluehi, spoke out and said, I’ve been in this team for over fifteen years, and every year you keep telling us the same thing, and she got dismissed from the national team.
“I kept fighting to get her back, but then the general secretary and the president agreed to let her come back if she wrote an apology letter and if I would take another goalkeeper in Nigeria that they wanted me to take, and since we didn’t have a camp in Nigeria, I didn’t have time to access the goalkeeper properly, and then they wanted me to turn in my final squad list, and they wanted me to include her. I’d never seen a goalkeeper who had never been in any of our camps. I refused to add her to the list, and we had a back-and-forth. Furthermore, I told them it’s in my contract to pick my team, and I will go with the three goalkeepers that have always been in the squad for the last two years.
“Then they retaliated immediately and said, well, you pick your team, but you will be going without your assistant coach, and I tried to fight it, but they’re not even listening to us and are not responding to our emails. The assistants they gave me are not on my level, and I’m only going for the players because my assistant feels betrayed.”
NFF Defence
Responding, NFF through its communication director Ademola Olajire said, “We have to first ask when the European season ended. The man wanted a two-week camp for only hoe-based professionals. Two weeks ago, he released his final list of 23. There was absolutely no need for any home-based camping again except to waste resources.
“Instead of admitting his glaring deficiencies, he’s there shooting his mouth off. He knows he will not have Rasheedat Ajibade and Halimatu Ayinde for the opening match against Canada, yet he left out Ngozi Okobi and Regina Otu from the squad. His outbursts are nothing but an afterthought. He’s only talking three days before the team’s World Cup departure.”
Super Falcons Decline, Canada’s Pay Row
In recent years, the Nigerian women team have been struggling, unlike what had obtained when they were previously managed by an indigenous coaches, a situation that had led to numerous calls for Waldrum’s sack.
Nigeria’s opponent, Canada have also been locked in row over pay mode for some times now.
