Falcons, so super!

On October 25, 2014, Nigeria’s senior women’s football squad, the Super Falcons, returned to the summit of African football. They won the 9th edition of the African Women’s Championship staged in Namibia… and in a grand style. It is the Super Falcons’ 7th title. They thrashed their arch foes and next door neighbours, the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon by 2 – 0 in the epic final to clinch the coveted trophy.
The Nigerian amazons left no one in doubt that they were back and better right from the onset of the tournament. In their opening match against the rampaging Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire, they overran them by 4 – 2, thrashed the Zambians by 6 – 0 and rounded up the group stage by whipping the hosts 2 – 0. In the semifinal clash against South Africa, the predators hit the Bayana Bayana by 2 – 1.
At the end of the hostilities, the new reigning soccer queens emerged as the highest scoring team, netting 16 goals and conceding only three. Nigeria’s goal assassin, Desire Oparanozie emerged as the winner of the Golden Boot with five goals, while Assisat Oshoala, the rising star, was voted the Most Valuable Player of the championship… a feat she recorded at the U-20 World Cup Championship held in Canada a few months back. Until the Equatorial Guinea ended their meritorious flight in 2008 at the semifinal stage, the Super Falcons had been a formidable force on the continent and sole representatives of Africa at the championship. In 1991 when the tournament was introduced by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), they crushed following oppositions to monopolise the trophy: Cameroon by 6 – 0 (1991); South Africa 11 – 2 (1995); Ghana 2 – 0 (2002); Cameroon 5 – 0 (2004); Ghana 1 – 0 (2006) and Equatorial Guinea 4 – 2 (2010).
While we celebrate the Super Falcons’ 7th triumph even in the midst of the crises bedevilling the nation’s soccer governing body, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), we should look beyond the continent. Nigeria’s supremacy easily crumbles in the face of superior opposition from countries like the United States of America, Denmark, Germany and Norway. It is on record that the Super Falcons have not won a single match at the global level. For instance, in 2003, the Nigerian girls were a super flop. They not only lost all the Group A matches but also failed to score a single goal.
Women’s soccer is not improving in the country due to lack of vibrancy in the female league. The 7-star performance in Namibia was not the first. It would be recalled that at the 2010 tournament held in South Africa, the Super Falcons put up a similar superlative presentation, running through the championship undefeated, scoring 19 goals and conceding only four. But at the 2011 global championship, the girls were roundly overwhelmed.
There is an urgent need to resolve the seesaw in the nation’s football body if women’s soccer in particular is to move beyond the present mediocre state at the international stage. The inclusion of Assisat Oshoala, who was elevated from the U-20, was a welcome development and she proved to be a pleasant revelation at the Namibia tournament. It shows the necessity to inject fresh blood into the senior teams. We advise that the new champions should be exposed to big-time warm-up matches in Europe ahead of the 2015 edition of the global championship billed for Canada.
Worthy of commendation is the resolve of the players and their officials to prosecute the championship without receiving their allowances and match bonuses. This selfless and patriotic spirit is alien to Nigerian football. We are used to players bickering over their entitlements and refusing to turn up for international engagements, while they allege shortchanging by the NFF.
We congratulate the Super Falcons, their chief coach, Edwin Okon, and his backroom staff on making Nigeria proud. Although the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, formally received them with a handshake at the Aso Rock Villa last week, we call on the federal government to reward the gems handsomely.