Super Falcons head coach Justin Madugu says his team is mentally and tactically ready to face Zambia in Friday’s quarterfinal clash at the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, Bold Sports reports.
The highly-anticipated encounter is a repeat of the 2022 third-place match, where the Copper Queens stunned Nigeria to claim bronze.
Madugu, addressing the media ahead of the match, acknowledged the strength of the Zambian team but believes the Super Falcons are equally equipped to secure victory.
“It is only natural that people make different assessments and then based on your assessments, Zambia, we cannot take away the fact that they are a good team, but they are not unbeatable. Anything can happen in a game of football.”
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“Just to give you a simple example, at the Club World Cup, nobody expected what happened in the final. It’s football. For us, we are preparing against Zambia, and it’s Zambia that we’re preparing for.”
“We know the players, we know their strengths. We also have our own plan of how to deal with that. The girls are in high spirits. They are fully ready for them. They too are very uncomfortable coming up against us because they know what we can also do.”
Madugu noted that Nigeria’s presence in the tournament often forces opponents to change their game plans, with teams showing extra caution and adopting different strategies.
If you watch all the games we play, the strategies adopted by the opposition is not the same in all the other games. If you go and analyse all the matches, the game against Nigeria and the teams in our group was not the same approach that all the other teams adopted in their various groups. So it’s going to be more of an open game. They do their bit, we also do our bit. For us, calm down.
While he stressed that Nigeria always aims to win, he acknowledged the role of fate and divine will in football outcomes.
“You see, let’s not forget the fact that we all believe in God and there’s destiny. Those times we won, it was not as if we just won because we were Nigeria, that was how God wanted it.”
“When we equally lost and played in the third place matches, we didn’t go to the tournaments preparing to come third. Even when we came fourth, it was not a deliberate plan that this is where we want to be. Everybody wants the best.”
“You plan to win, but then if fate says you will not win, is there anything you can do? That’s not our wish, and things can happen the way they happen.”
“But like we said, our mindset, our preparation, the mentality, the attitude, and everything is about winning, and that’s what we are going for. But we cannot change anything that God has decided.”
Madugu admitted that the Falcons have not been clinical enough in the final third, despite creating chances. He said the coaching staff have been working on improving that aspect of their play ahead of the quarterfinal clash.
“I cannot determine the number of goals that will be scored in the game. But like I said, for you to win a match, you have to score goals. I hope and expect that the Nigerian team will score goals and will win the game.”
“It’s an area that we are aware that we have not done too well. We have also been trying to work on how to improve on that area. And, the few sessions we have had, we’ve done something in that regard. But, you know, these are things that take time.”
“It’s not a magical thing that, because you just do it once or twice, and you think everybody becomes perfect over it. It takes time, it is a continuous process. So we are still working on it, and we believe that it will be better tomorrow.”
The coach also commented on the recognition received by Nigerian players in the tournament’s group stage Best XI, with Ashleigh Plumptre and captain Rasheedat Ajibade making the cut.
“Well, it’s a good thing to have your players being recognised among the best players at the group stage of the tournament. It’s a good one, it’s a reflection of their performance.”
“We will not question why maybe we didn’t have more than that. That is the assessment of the technical study group, which we highly respect. We’re happy about that because there are countries that don’t even have a single player on the team.”
“So it’s a good thing that we have that, and it’s also serving us another angle of motivation for the players to also do better. Ashley, in the last two games she played, she was very outstanding. She did very well in both games, and that accounts for why she was there.”
“Rasheedat the captain, also did her bit, and that is why she is also there. Going forward, I expect that we will have more players coming into the next selection that will be made either at the end of the tournament or in the next subsequent stages of the tournament.”
Nigeria and Zambia face off on Friday in what promises to be one of the standout fixtures of the WAFCON quarterfinals. With history, rivalry, and a semifinal spot at stake, all eyes will be on the Super Falcons to deliver.
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