The Super Falcons, our women’s national team, have become for us the veritable superhero due to the superlative performance they displayed at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup that just concluded yesterday at the Stadium Australia in Sydney. They might have left Sydney without a cup but their performance and the distance they covered in the competition have kept us enthralled by the happenings at the two venues of the game in Australia and New Zealand. Many of us were kept captivated by the skills of the Super Falcons in the group of 32 matches. They did not lose a single match despite playing in a group that has been dubbed the Group of Death till their triumphal entry into the charmed group of 16.
The Super Falcons were some of the least fancied in the competition. Out of the 188 countries ranked by FIFA in the Women’s Football League, Nigeria’s Super Falcons were placed at no 40. It might look like an impressive placement but among the 32 countries attending the competition Nigeria was one of the least ranked. In the group of 4 where the Super Falcons began the competition, they were severe underdogs. Ireland was no 22, Australia was no 10 and Canada, the recent Olympic Gold Medalist, was no 7. Who would be so profligate as to bet on the Super Falcons down the ladder at no 40?
Yet Nigeria’s Super Falcons defied the odds by prevailing in the group matches. They clinched hard-won points by getting draws out of the matches with Ireland and Canada. They rounded up their impressive performance by giving the Australian Women’s National team, the Matildas, the drubbing of their lives in their home stadium and in front of their multitude of cheering home crowd. That’s how the Super Falcons survived the group elimination to get into the next group of 16. They got paired to play with England’s Lionesses, a team that’s no 4 on FIFA’s ranking table.
The match between the Super Falcons and the Lionesses seemed a Herculean task; what would have looked like the legendary face-off between David and Goliath. The entire footballing crowd in this country was roused and went into a lusty cheer for the Super Falcons. To their credit, the Super Falcons gave a very good account of themselves in a match that all those who watched it would acclaim it was truly pulsating.
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The Lionesses ended the match with 10 players and would have lost to the Super Falcons had their relentless pressure on England’s goalmouth produced the required goal. Unfortunately, the Super Falcons’ valiant efforts only ended up hitting the goalpost. The match went into extra time and remained goalless at the close. The luck of the Super Falcons finally ran out at the penalty shoot-outs where the Lionesses finally got their way.
This was our finest moment in any international competition, in recent times. The team’s performance, for that moment, obliterated the serial disappointment of our men’s senior team in recent years which has failed to muster the necessary points to qualify for the World Cup and the Africa Cup of Nations.
It is no wonder then that since their arrival home, the Super Falcons have been feted from one end of the country to the other. The First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has given them a grand welcome in Abuja and state governors are taking turns to receive the superheroes and shower them with all sorts of accolades and gifts.
The euphoria of their successful outing is bound to continue for some time. But it will soon be time to look beyond what the Super Falcons have achieved and come to the grim realisation that we are not yet there. Too many issues are bogging down the full consummation of our potential in the arena of women’s football.
The team had to contend with the perennial issues of non-payment of match bonuses, tardiness in travel arrangements and a host of management deficiencies pervading the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF).
We should look ahead for a national team that is drawn mainly from home clubs to allow coaches better opportunities for coordination and sustainability. Readers might observe that of the entire 21 players of the Super Falcons, only Onoma Ebi plays within the country with the Abia Angels. All the others are with teams outside the country. This contrasts sharply with La Roja, Spain’s Women’s National Team, which won the World Cup. All the La Roja players work within Spain with the home teams such as Barcelona, Real Madrid, etc. Only one out of the 22 players, works outside in Mexico. I guess this is an issue that also affects the men’s football national team and probably all aspects of our sporting activities. But it needs to be addressed sooner than later.
While we are at it, we also need to look at the skewed representation in our women’s national team with the complete absence of players from most of the northern states. This, from my perspective, would be to the eternal shame of the governors superintending those states, who should be doing more to encourage women’s football.
These are some of the few challenges that would be staring Senator John Enoh in the face as he assumes duty today as the new Minister of Sports Development.
