Beyond scoreline: Systemic rot behind Nigeria’s women’s football decline

From the beginning, it was obvious and manifest that the Nigerian senior female football team, the Super Falcons, were on a jamboree in Morocco. The players obviously came into the championship carrying an overbloated ego. They arrived in Morocco not only as defending champions but 10-time winners of the championship. They revelled in that glory and believed that they were in Morocco to simply shake hands and pick up the trophy. This horrible mindset also affected their preparation. The coaching crew and the tactics adopted were also horrible, and one wonders why Madugu was still on the bench of the team. He was obviously bereft of ideas and completely lost as to what to do. It was a real disgrace and a shame to Nigeria.

I am yet to find the reasons we left this team, the only one that had constantly put Nigeria’s image on the front burner to rot and rot terribly. There were just no plans to grow the team. We just believed that, as champions, they would remain as such, with no programmes for improvement or growth. And at the just-concluded championship, the team became a disgrace to the Nigerian nation. They didn’t just fail on all fronts. They were never inspiring, lacked stamina, and wobbled all through the championship.

 I doubt if they ever had any reasonable preparation before arriving in Morocco. God forbid that this is what we can assemble for the nation at that level. The goalkeeper was obviously not in the proper frame of mind and showed her manifest inadequacy from the first match against Malawi, where she showed obvious decay and match rustiness. She personally aided the three goals Nigeria conceded. But I don’t blame her. I blame the coach who sat on the bench watching the macabre dance of shame. He was even so daring as to allow the goalkeeper to continue with the next match and eventually all the matches. This is pure madness and calls for a probe.

This is how it started with the Super Eagles, and today, Nigeria has failed to qualify for two World Cup competitions. Indecisiveness has remained the bane of our growth both in sports and even in our national life.

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I really don’t have issues with the Falcons being knocked out of the African championship. After winning the championship a record 10th time, there was a need for growth of female football on the continent and for other countries to also win. My anger with this current squad is how low they have dropped and cannot even make the first six in the pecking order in Africa, where they dominated for over a decade.

I think the Federal Government should tinker with the management of our sports and sweep out all persons who have outlived their usefulness. We need a new beginning. We need to build afresh and collectively work to restore our dignity. Obviously, we live in perilous times. It is, however, not too late to get it right once again.

Ikechukwu Ani, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, writes from Abuja