"Ghana, S/Africa friendlies will help Super Falcons"-NFF

Chikwelu dribbles past Okoe in a past encounter

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has said that the proposed friendly matches against the Black Queens of Ghana and the Bayana Bayana of South Africa will help the Falcons prepare for the quest to book a place in the 2012 Olympics.

The Falcons prepare to confront Cameroon September 29 in the first leg of the final to berth a place at the quadrennial event slated for London next year.
Though the Nigerian football governing body has not received any concrete response from both countries, they are optimistic that the deal will materialise.

Expressing worry in Abuja, Deputy Secretary General (Technical) of the NFF, Emmanuel Ipeme said the federation has not received any formal approval from any of the countries contacted, adding that except for the South African Football Association that sent an acknowledgment in the respect of the letter received.

“We want to use the two friendly matches to prepare the Super Falcons for the big task of securing one of the African slots for the Olympics. But as I speak to you now, we have not gotten any response from them, except the South African FA, which only wrote to acknowledge the receipt of our letter, with a promise to communicate to us,” he stated.

But as the Abuja camp of the Falcons remains lively with players fighting for places in the Eucharia Uche-tutored team, and coupled with the arrival of German trainer Thomas Obliers, who just got his contract extended by one month, the African Champions are set to go.

“The girls played well but they have to learn to score goals. If we had scored against France the tournament could have favoured us. Against Germany we had chances to score but could not utilise them. Our fitness was better than that of the Germans, I am surprised we didn’t win that match and as for Canada we should have scored three to four goals,” Obliers had said.

Though the German had told journalist that he was satisfied with the performance of the Falcons at the World Cup, the team owe a duty to prove critics wrong and reassure their teeming supporters that there’s more in the sleeves.
By Innocent Amomoh