Former coach of the Super Falcons, Nigerian women national team, Godwin Izilien, has said Coach Randy Waldrum was right in confining to the bench the older players, specifically mentioning the team’s captain, Onome Ebi, at the ongoing 2023 FIFA Women World Cup in New Zealand and Australia.
The coach who led the team to the 2004 African Women Cup of Nations title has been an advocate of younger players in the team, saying the game is not for older players as they won’t have the right reflexes to compete effectively.
While in a chat monitored by SportsDay, the coach noted that it was high time older players gave way in the team., saying the team played well against the Matildas of Australia more than the way they played against Canada, however, admonishing that there were rooms for improvement.
He said: “There was improvement in their game against Australia when you look at the way they played against Canada,” he said.
“They never lost balls and they fought together and you can see that even when Australia scored, they kept their opponents at bay and eventually equalised.
“I like their fighting spirit and that is the only thing that can win matches and I want to tell you that I am impressed how those older players were kept on the bench. The game is for the young and not for the old. At forty years, Onome Ebi has little to contribute because she would have lost her reflexes.
“If you look at the field, you will see that most of the players the coach used as starters are younger ones and that showed how they sustained their runs and get the results,” he said.
Against the Republic of Ireland, the experienced coach said the game could end up being their easiest match as the girls are charged while their opponent is already down, however challenging them not to leave anything for chance. He cautioned them to be mindful of losing the ball carelessly, saying they should also explore opportunities to get early goal in order to play the rest of the game being in front.
“Well, I know Republic of Ireland will be desperate to get at least a point in the match but I can tell you that this game may end up being Nigeria’s easiest.
“I say this because our players are already charged and I feel the confidence level is also already high. This is not the same with Ireland who are already out of the tournament.
“But they should not leave anything to permutation so they should play with much more hunger because what I saw against Australia was good but certainly not the best that they could have played.
“You know a kind of result will throw up calculations so they should avoid such and go all out to dim them. They should cover for one another because losing possessions carelessly will not help them.
“Two things are very important here; holding possession and what you do with the possession.
“When you hold the ball, you calculate and look at how you can connect your team mate in an advantage position.
“Honestly they tried against Australia but I want to see much improved Super Falcons when they play Republic of Ireland,” the coach said.
