Some football enthusiasts in Enugu, on Monday expressed dismay over the Super Falcons of Nigeria’s 2-1 loss to Banyana Banyana of South Africa at the ongoing African Women Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in Morocco.
Some of them who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) after the match on Monday in Enugu said it was time to groom new and energetic players for the national team.
Okechukwu Nnamani said the players showed weakness in strength and needed to be replaced with vibrant and energetic players.
“It seems like age is catching up on the players and they failed to withstand the fire power of the South Africans.
The Chief Executive Officer of Enugu Coal City Girls, advised female football administrators in the country to look into the players welfare and growth of the nation’s female league.
“I know that we can do better than this with the home base players with well-organised league.
“We have to come back home and fix a lot of things that have gone wrong.
“Before, we use to hammer teams 5-0 but these days, those teams are now thrashing us and this shows that we are going down in female football,” he said.
Ignatius Okpara, Former secretary, Sports Writer’s Assocation of Nigeria (SWAN), said the girls’ performance was nothing to talk about.
“We have players who can do better than this set of players in the league, I do not know why we so much depend on foreign players.
“The coach should have talked to the girls after the interval to remove anxiety in their approach to the game,” he noted.
Okpara advised the team handlers to go back to the drawing board and correct the lapses and ensured that the girls finished well at the Championship.
Enugu State Boxing coach, Blaise Ude, said the game had been played and that the team should redeem themselves with the remaining matches of the group.
“There is no need to cry over spilled milk, so the only solution is for the team to come up better in subsequent matches in the group.
“Thank God, it is the first match of the group stage and not a knockout stage.
“We still have room to achieve our target at the championship with determination.
Coach Anistar Izuikem of Stars Plus FC of Ngwo expressed shock over the loss to South Africa.
“These girls defeated us at the group stage in Ghana and at the Aisha Buhari Football Tournament but we taught it was a fluke.
“Now, we know they mean business and the technical crew should not sleep over it because it is going to cause the country a lot.
“This is the only game we have been dominating in Africa and now we are at the verge of relinquishing the superiority, something has to be done,” Izuikem said.