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The Super Falcons suffered a 3-1 defeat to Japan which meant they were dumped out of the Olympics without securing a point. We evaluate three of the reasons for their failed outing.
Nigeria's performance at the World Cup last year sparked a wave of optimism in the team for future outings. Although the Olympic draws placed Randy Waldrum's side in a precarious situation, fans hoped to see the team prove the FIFA ratings wrong once again, and thrive.
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That has clearly not been the case with the recent outcome, but why has that been? Why have the Super Falcons failed so spectacularly? Here are three things we learned from the elimination.
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18:19 - 31.07.2024
Paris 2024 Olympics: Japan knock 'disappointing' Super Falcons OUT with 3-1 win in Nantes (As it Happened)
Follow all the action live on Pulse Sports as Super Falcons seek redemption in their final group game at the 2024 Olympics.
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18:23 - 31.07.2024
Japan vs Nigeria player ratings: Echegini, Ucheibe and Alozie only shining light for uninspiring Falcons as Ajibade, Okeke flop
The Super Falcons of Nigeria fell to their third defeat in their third Group C clash against Japan with few players having an impressive performance.
Ajibade dependency
The Super Falcons’ attack lives and dies by the foot of Atletico Madrid forward Rasheedat Ajibade. Hence, when she failed to turn up, Nigeria looked toothless in attack.
In the games against Spain and Japan, the 26-year-old was largely underwhelming. The Super Falcons captain struggled to impose herself on opposing defenders, as is her trademark, nor was she a reliable outlet.
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This meant that in both games, Nigeria struggled to consistently threaten their opponent, relying on sporadic bursts of offensive transitions, which largely failed again due to the captain not being up to scratch.
Waldrum cannot coach offensive play
Piggy-backing off the first point—the team struggling to pose any threat when one player is off—is an indictment of the coaching obtainable.
Even when Ajibade has played well, as she did in the opener against Brazil, she had to resort to hail Mary's, as the system around her was not built to take advantage of the danger she created.
While Waldrum has created an excellent defensive structure and made the Super Falcons difficult to beat, he has shown an inability to make the team dangerous offensively.
While we speak glowingly of Nigeria's performance at the World Cup in Australia/New Zealand, it is important to remember that the Super Falcons only scored in one of the four games played, albeit three goals. And when the onus was on them to attack, with England down to ten women after Lauren James’s red card in the round of 16 exit, they did not know what to do with the ball.
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While Waldrum's side are capable of blowing apart menos like Ethiopia and Cape Verde, thanks to the sheer disparity in talent, they have struggled offensively against top-level opposition, as seen in the qualifiers against Cameroon and South Africa, in which the team scored two goals in four games.
The trend continued into the Olympics and save for Jennifer Echegini’s strike in the 42nd minute against Japan, the Falcons would have gone through the tournament without scoring.
While he has made the team a well-structured defensive unit, Waldrum’s Falcons leave a lot to be desired up front, and it is not for a lack of talent.
Plumptre was sorely missed
It is clear that the defence as a unit is the biggest strength of the Super Falcons; hence, when an integral part of that well-oiled machine is missing, with no reliable spare on hand, the results cannot be expected to remain unchanged.
Chidinma Okeke is not Ashleigh Plumptre, and in the three games at the Olympics, especially against Japan, she proved an inadequate deputy.
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She was leggy, rigid, and off-pace for most of the encounter. The Japanese women found a lot of joy in attacking down her flank in such a way that made fans long for the injured Al-Ittihad defender.
On aggregate, and contrary to the results, the Super Falcons were not terrible at the Olympics, and it is unnecessary to call for Randy Waldrum's sack.
However, if he is to continue, he needs to tune up the team as an offensive unit, which effectively alleviates the Ajibade dependency. Also, he needs to find more reliable deputies, as the step down in quality from the starters to their replacements is significant. God forbid Chiamaka Nnadozie or Osinachi Ohale becomes unavailable; the absence of Plumptre and the subsequent drop in quality is a dashboard warning indicator light.
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