A lot for coach Waldrum to ponder as Nigeria scraps Ghana out of the AWCON 22 race

Nigeria lost to Ghana by 1-0 in the second leg of the 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations (2022 AWCON) qualifier match played in Accra on Sunday 24 October 2022 but the team relied on the two unrepelled goals scored in Lagos to go through.

It was a hard-earned victory for Nigeria over the two legs as the Super Falcons struggle to establish their authority in the game as they defended and chased the game for most of the night, a replica of what played out in Lagos. 

The good news is that the team pull through with lots of determination to achieve the desired result but the performance of the team leaves more to be desired as it left a lot for the coach to ponder before the next round of games in the 2022 AWCON qualifier.

The technical crew need to work on the obvious weaknesses noticed in the team before the team faces the Ivorians ladies in February next year. 

Non - existent midfield 

The Super Falcons midfield was almost non-existent in both legs as the Ghanaians had a field day running the middle ceaselessly with ease. 

This put a lot of pressure on the team at back. The defensive midfield offered no cover for the backline. 

It was practically hard for the team to string passes together and locate the attackers, the team has to rely on long balls from the back, counter attacks and sheer individual brilliance to score goals.

The coach needs to come up with a system that will give the Super Falcons a functional midfield if the team wants to go past Cote'd Ivoire, a team that loves to play through the midfield in a fluid 3-5-2 formation.

Dull attack 

The Super Falcons attacking line led by Barcelona star, Asisat Oshoala has not been scoring as much. This is symbolized by the failure of Asisat to score for the team in their last seven outings.   

This should worry the coach more, as he needs to get the team back to scoring ways to win games easily and also help Oshoala gets back his scoring magic for the Super Falcons.

The problem can be traced to the inability of the midfielders to create chances for the attackers and the inability of the strikers to take their chances anytime they have one.  

The coach needs to come up with a solution to solving these problems, before the next round of matches against the Lady Elephants of Cote ' d'Ivoire in February 2022.

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Olusola Adebayo is a highly-skilled, enthusiastic, self-motivated writer with over 10 successful years of experience. 

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