WAFCON Victory beclouds Falcons’ flaws

By Ori Martins…

The Super Falcons of Nigeria’s accomplishment of the Mission X objective at the last Women’s African Nations Cup Finals in Morocco has been described as s a wonderful feat in spite of its inherent flaws by Chief (Sir) Fan Ndubuoke.

Ndubuoke, a former board member of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) observed that “Mission X is Possible” was the slogan coined by the ever vibrant Nigeria’s sporting press in which the sports journalists reminded the female national team on the need to come back home with the coveted trophy for an unprecedented epic record of 10 times.

Ndubuoke noted that for the Falcons to have staged an unexpected comeback from a 2 – 0 deficit in the first half to beat the host 3 -2 before Morocco’s cheering and boisterous fans on the final day was an excellent achievement . “That feat further proved that Super Falcons of Nigeria are the undisputed African best in women football”, he submitted.

The erstwhile Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) National President, noted that there were issues arising from Morocco which ought to be painstakingly addressed but had been swept under the carpet because of the euphoria ‘of the moment.

According to him, ” My concern is the euphoria that greeted Falcons victory in Morocco, coupled with generous largesse  from President Bola Ahmed. It rankles that the WAFCON victory in the North Africa region has beclouded Falcons glaring flaws.

“Falcons’ weaknesses  were so noticeable that the Moroccan manager was so confident that the Falcons would not survive the first half. His boast actually caught the attention of some football buffs who actually understood that the Super Falcons were not a truly – technically packaged side.

“True to the boasts of the Moroccan coach, the Nigerian ladies caved in to two quick succession first half goals. The Moroccan coach was proved right and our fears about the Super Falcons not being a strong side with vitality, cohesion and strong team understanding was confirmed”.

Ndubuoke, who was the general manager of Heartland FC when the Owerri side lifted the Federation Cup back – to – back in 2012, 2012, Falcons’ victory was accidental. He said, “As a matter of fact, the Super Falcons’ victory in the 2025 African Women’s Nations Cup was a success made possible by the usual “Nigeria’s spirit of survival” than being technically inspired”.

He added, “I say it with every sense of patriotism and a stakeholder in sports business, particularly football, that the Super Falcons were not really fantastic notwithstanding their lifting the WAFCON for the unprecedented even historic 10th time.

“Truth be told, the team lacked general football tenets . The ladies  never displayed any tact depicting them as a great side. Individually, the Super Falcons at Morocco were stuffed with great players who ply their trade abroad. Sadly, the coach never succeeded in building those great talents into a team”.

The former Imo State FA chairman argued that taking a cursory look at how the Super Falcons went about their games leading to he final against host Morocco, it was obvious that the defence was always in total disarray, the midfield suffered consistent collapse while the attack, despite its numerous forays, never flew effectively.

“The coach who must be commended for his efforts, despite limited exposure, needed more time to build technically efficient team . He ought to know that at that level,  knowledge of his opponents’ strength and weakness was key.

The then co – publishers of the then high flying first all sports newspaper in Nigeria – The Sports Links – insisted that “Winning the WAFCON 10 times without making any impact globally particularly at the World Cup is absolutely meaningless. The last Women’s African Nations Cup where Nigeria paraded players  with European and global exposure, offered us one of the biggest opportunities to showcase the superiority of our ladies.

“I groaned as I watched our dear Super Falcons struggled to string passes even when advancing from behind. If it were 10, 15 or 20 years ago, it would have been understandable. But we are talking about a team that first represented Africa in the maiden edition of the Women World Cup Finals in China(1991 )- 34 years ago”!

Ndubuoke revealed that “The team I watched in Morocco never exhibited the true character of a 34 year old side as all the  blunders usually associated with our female national team reared their ugly heads.

“Unfortunately, I can tell you that the gains of their overseas exposure were never brought to bear on the 2025 Falcons in Morocco.

“In fact, that Nigeria still struggles against teams like  South Africa , Equatorial Guinea and Morocco which started female football many years after her confirms our standard has not improved with time. Instead, the standard  is diminishing by the day and something critical and strategic must be done to arrest the situation urgently”.

Ndubuoke,  pioneer Chairman  of Imo State Sports Commission applauded the Federal Government of Nigeria for the generous appreciation of the Super Falcons and the D’Tigress.

“Again, the challenge is with the administrators. What is their development plan for female football in Nigeria? What are the modalities to ensure short and long term plans for Falcons’ successes, especially to play in the last four of the Women World Cup Finals? You can confess that watching England, Spain in the European Women final was worth the time. Can our girls stand any of those team today at the level we are playing?
Let us hope that from the windfalls for winning the continental diadem, both the team and the technical crew will be exposed to better training and preparations”.

Furthermore, record shows that CAF made a donation of the equivalent of N1. 5b to Super Falcons as winners of last WAFCON. Let us take it for granted that about N500m might have been expanded on the women during the competition. So, what happens to the N1b balance? What is it meant for”?