Super Falcons coach Randy Waldrum says he is satisfied with his team’s performance despite their exit in the group stage of the women’s football event of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Nigeria lost all their fixtures at the Olympics, suffering 1-0 defeats to Brazil and Spain, and a 3-1 loss to Japan, conceding five goals and scoring just one.
The team’s conservative approach in most games, as well as the lack of goals, has drawn significant criticism from fans and pundits alike.
Super Falcons’ lack of goals under Waldrum
In their last ten matches, the Super Falcons have scored 15 goals, with 11 of those goals coming in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) and Olympic Qualifiers against Cape Verde and Ethiopia under different management.
Since then, the team has failed to score more than one goal in a match since their 2-1 win over Cape Verde in December 2023.
When asked after Nigeria’s loss to Japan about why the team failed to score more than one goal in their three group games, Coach Waldrum insisted that the level and quality of the teams the Super Falcons faced in Paris was the sole causative factor.
“People have to understand that the Olympics is not like playing Tanzania or Equatorial Guinea where goals are just going to come,”
Waldrum told Totori News.
“It is not like playing Cape Verde. Brazil, Spain, and Japan are top teams in the world, and the margin of error is slim. The players gave their all, and I am proud of them.”
The Super Falcons now turn their attention to the WAFCON.
The team will need to address their recent struggles and improve their offensive capabilities to perform better in the continental competition.
