Following what football afficionados the world over saw as a tough draw for the Super Falcons ahead of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup finals, Head Coach Thomas Dennerby has declared that Nigeria will work to prepare hard and take it one match at a time in the finals next year summer.
The African champions were on Saturday evening drawn with hosts France, Norway and Korea Republic in Group A of the 24 –team championship, at a colourful ceremony inside the La Seine Musicale on the River Seine in Paris.
“There is no easy group here. I am okay with the draw because I always knew that we would have to play the best teams. That is what you do at the World Cup. The French team is, of course, world class, and I know we would have to fight very hard against them.
“The Koreans are very technical and have pace but we will confront them with our physical strength, ability and pace of our own and we have a great chance in there. I know the Norway team, more than they know us or can hope to know us. At the end of the day, it would come down to preparations. We must prepare very hard and then take it one match at a time during the finals,” the Swedish tactician said at the mixed zone following the ceremony.
President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick, who attended the event as the 1st Vice President of CAF and Member of the Organizing Committee for FIFA Competitions, said: “It is a draw that tells us that we have to do everything we can to prepare the team well for the competition.
“Presently, we have firmed up two tournaments in China and Cyprus for the team, and we are talking with a few countries and organizers for matches and tournaments. We will give the Head Coach and his team the necessary support to prepare the team adequately for the competition.”
Former Super Falcons’ star Mercy Akide-Udoh, who flew into France from the United States of America and attended the ceremony as a FIFA Ambassador for Women’s Football, opined: “This is a tough one for us. But I think the Federation should do everything to ensure adequate preparation of the team.”
The 8th FIFA Women’s World Cup finals will take place in nine French cities between 7th June and 7th July 2019.
Nigeria’s first match of the finals will be against Norway in Reims on 8th June, before they play Korea Republic in Grenoble on 12th June. Their last match of the group phase is against hosts France in Rennes on 17th June.
“If you have to make real impact at the FIFA World Cup, you have to beat the strong teams. That is what we have to prepare for. I am looking ahead to an interesting tournament in France in the summer of next year,” Dennerby added.
The opening match of the tournament is between France and Korea Republic, and will hold at the Parc des Princes in Paris on 7th June 2019.
Meanwhile, Super Falcons forward Ngozi Okobi has taken a hit at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) after the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup (FIFA WWC) Draw that took place in Paris on Saturday.
In a tweet on her official Twitter handle, the Eskilstuna United DFF star pointed out that early preparations for the tournament will give the nine-time African champions a better opportunity of progressing from the group stages.
The Super Falcons who unceremoniously won the 2018 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) in Ghana, although favourites, were without a coach for a whole calendar year neither did they have any form of training or friendly matches as a team. Going into the AWCON, the Falcons only played a series of amateur teams as preparation for the continental showpiece.
Meanwhile, AWCON runners-up South Africa have already lined up a friendly game with three-time world cup champions, USA – a country that has won a medal at all past editions of the FIFA WWC – in preparation for their first ever participation on football’s biggest stage.
Prior to the AWCON final, the President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, had promised the Falcons a better preparation for the world cup in France than what they had before the AWCON. However, considering that the women’s calendar has more international breaks, it seems the best way the NFF is preparing for the world cup is the usual Nigerian “sidon look” approach.
