Super Falcons head coach Justin Madugu says the team still needs to improve following their goalless draw against Algeria, despite Nigeria finishing top of Group B at the ongoing 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in Morocco.
A heavily rotated Nigerian side failed to break down the Algerians in their final group game on Sunday night. However, the result set up a high-stakes quarter-final showdown against Zambia — the same team that denied Nigeria a third-place finish at the last edition of the tournament.
While the team booked a place in the knockout stage, Madugu admitted he was not satisfied with the performance, stressing the need for improvement moving forward.
“Each time we go out for a game, our expectation is always to win, but we didn’t win, we’re not happy about it,” he said in his post-match press conference.
More Read
“The team has not gotten to the level we expect and we’ll continue to work because there are areas that we have noticed we still need to work on. With every game, there’ll always be errors and things to improve in the team.”
Madugu made eight changes from the side that beat Botswana 1-0 last Thursday, opting to rest key players ahead of Friday’s quarter-final showdown against Zambia, a move that he felt could help the team going forward.
“Considering the fact that we made a lot of changes, we have seen a lot of other players and what they can bring to the table. Going into the quarterfinals, we are aware of what it is all about. Between now and then, we’ll try to improve on our shortcomings.”
“We’ll have to continue working on them, hoping that the players would get it better and try to do what they’re expected to do better. They put in the effort but in some areas we have challenges. We’re taking notes, and we’ll continue to work until we get it right.”
Madugu also pushed back against the idea that the team fielded against Algeria was a second-string side, praising the efforts of the players who were given minutes.
“I would not call them team B because they’re part of the team. I’m impressed with a lot of them, they did their best. It’s just the aspect of goalscoring, if they have converted the chances they got, we would have had a greater challenge to decide who starts and who doesn’t.”
The Falcons scored thrice in their first group game against Tunisia, but have only netted once in the two games after that. Madugu admitted that the team’s lack of goals is now a major concern, especially given that the same players had been scoring in previous matches leading up to the tournament.
“Prior to this tournament, we’ve been playing games and all of them have been scoring goals. In this tournament, goalscoring has become a challenge for us. We have to really go back and do a lot.”
“We have little time to work on that but it is becoming a cause of concern and worry for us. The same players that were scoring goals before now are the same players that are still playing. Why they’re not getting the goals is something we have to look at and work on.”
© Bold Sports Media. All rights reserved. If sharing, kindly credit Bold Sports as the source and include a link to the original post. Unauthorised use is prohibited.
