Super Falcons defender Michelle Alozie has expressed disappointment her disappointment following the team’s ouster from the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The Super Falcons were knocked out at the Round of 16 stage by the Three Lionesses of England on Monday.
Randy Waldrum’s side bowed 4-2 on penalties.
The Super Falcons took control and dominated the game from the first minute but didn’t have any goal to show for their great display.
Ashleigh Plumptre and Asisat Oshoala came close to scoring for the team during the pulsating encounter.
Read Also:Former Super Eagles Midfielder Advises NFF To Snap Up Waldrum
The game went to penalties after 120 minutes and Alozie missed her spot kick in the penalty shootout along with Desire Oparanozie.
Following the defeat Alozie, took to the social media to reflect on their World Cup adventure.
“Self disappointment overcasted with overwhelming pride for my teammates, gratitude for the journey, and glory to God always,” she Tweeted.
Alozie made four appearances at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The Super Falcons are the only African team to have participated at all editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
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24 Comments
I only PRAY that ENGLAND doesn’t WIN the WWC. Cos if they do, my WOMAN @PLUMPTRE will be having the REGRET of not CHOOSING to REPRESENT them and this may AFFECT her PSYCHOLOGICALLY and then AFFECT her GAME for the SF except SHE visit a PSYCHIATRIST…
I still don’t understand the inspiration behind a natural right footer trying to take a crucial penalty with her weaker left foot….! Seriously…!
Like really, did the falcons really practice penalties ahead of this R16….???
Because even Ajibade’s penalty barely made it past the English GK, and indication that our first 3 penalties in the shootouts were poor.
Thank you. With the exception of Ucheibe’s penalty, the others were very poor, raising the question if they actually practiced penalty kicks
I talked about that yesterday too after the game…Why did she do that and the Penalty was just a disastrous one. Oshoala never steps up for this team….As a leader, she should have stepped up after Oparanozie lost her kick or should have been the first to give confidence to her team. We were just destined to lose…England even lost their first spot kick and we still wasted the psychological advantage.
Forget Oshoala…that one is simply overrated. Depend on her at your peril. Just 1 competitive goal (and probably 1 other in a friendly vs Haiti which was even a rebound)) is what a socalled agba-baller has given Nigeria since Waldrum was appointed over 2 years ago.
She looked disinterested when she came on last night. More like as if she was angry at being asked to sit on the bench for a mere Gotham FC player. We lacked bite and couldn’t stretch an English defense that was already showing signs of wearing out before she came on.
The one we should look up to in this team hence forth is Chiamaka Nnadozie
I have commented on Oshoala on this platform that she is the female version of the SE Chikwueze.
Oshoala body language was clearly seen by a passer-by as one who was not ready to sacrifice for the team except her club.
I look forward to a day we will have a bold and fearless coach like Oliseh who will sideline a super star who is not keen on national.
A coach who is not going to worry about the backlash from people who don’t know what went on in the camp that informed his decision, a coach who will stick to fairness to all players no matter the players status.
Oshoala and others should be excused if they are not ready to give Nigeria their best.
May team is not anybody’s property.
We are so used to failure, that a little light of effort is celebrated. We failed woefully here, we have been to all the world cup finals even before England, yet we are so proud of being knocked out in the second round again and praising a coach who could not train his players on penalty taking. We should be ashamed of our performance after almost 30 t only caught up with us but have overtaken us. We should be serious for once.
countries like south Africa and Morocco
We weren’t destined to win that match. The three powerful shots that hit the bar could have gone in and that would have been a different story. England knew they were simply lucky and that is why their coach praised our team after the game. I’m glad tht the team is now playing on a high level sort of. Just with the addition of more talented players from England, our team would become stronger and stronger.If we do qualify for the Olympic, everyone should just watch us out, we might be the first African team to win the gold medal just like the Atalanta 96 men’s squad.
You talk well bobby and that of oshoala too she is never my player no bite unserious player coach too sub was total wrong
Why is it that some people can’t get over Asisat. You clamored for the inclusion of Oparanozie in the team, she made no contribution other than the penalty. You ignore the woeful performance of a supposed striker who had the worst outing ever produced by a national team striker in global competition. Onuomonu had zero attempt at goal in the last 3 matches and zero assist and zero goal in 4 world cup even the defenders had better attacking threat than her. The worst player in the team is Onuomonu.
you dey mind des our ppl ?
one tin stands she has done well for hersef and she will forever be remembered in the history african women football.
a striker nids goal scoring opportunity to score , dats one of d basic of football..
onumonu must be protected at all cos even wen she fell evrytym shes on d ball sinx d wafcon ,,, na oshoala be d prob ..
i just wish our team well goin forward
Hahahaha…hypocrisy of the highest order….Oshoala “needs goal scoring opportunity to score”, but Onumonu must create opportunities for herself from thin air when none has been created.
The last time we checked, the only goal agba-isonu scored in this world cup was from a defensive mix up fresh from the bench. Otherwise our Barcelona FC’s flop of the tournament also recorded next to zero shots on target and zero assists in 4 games.
We prefer our Gotham FC Onumonu who falls every time on the ball because she’s being challenged and hassled by defenders as a result of her immersing herself in the game, rather than the so-called Superstar who loiters around the pitch and provides zero inspiration or zero press in games.
Agba-baller came on in the 60th minute vs England and we hardly troubled them again until Oparanozie came on in the 110th minute.
Agba-isonu scores her first competitive goal for Nigeria in 2 years at the world cup from a defensive mixup and all of a sudden every other player is useless.
@ Larry you are spot on. I called her Waldrum’s girl friend. When was the last time she ever scored a goal for Nigeria? What do you call a striker that cannot score? instead people are just fixated on Oshoala, who’s goal got us to the second round. Onumonu was a complete waste of a spot. All she did up front was to jog to the defenders with no intention of tackling them, and people say Waldrum is a good coach? what kind of coach would allow a striker that do not produce. Assisat tried, she has being serving Nigeria very well. her goals speak for her. A half fit Assisat is far better than that lazy striker Onumonu.
I expected better from you since you have always used statistics to drive home your point.
This time you are completely wrong with your data and statement.
Firs, it’s not Asisat first goal in two years and not even one year.
Second, you called the goal a mix-up but refused to acknowledge the determination and exquisite skill from a tight angle.
Now let’s go to your Onupmonu,
Game 1; less than 45% success in passing (ordinary to tap ball)
Game2, Game 3, and Game 4 ; zero attempt at goal for a striker..
Total matches : 4 , goal scored: zero.
Even Gift Monday and Esther Okoronkwo had better performance and contributions than Onuoronmu despite playing for few minutes.
Hahahaha….please show us your Agba-isonu’s statistics in
Game 1…..???
Game 2….???
Game 3…..???
Game 4….???
Tell us how many attempts at goal and how many assists she had……LMAooo
The only goal she scored was from a defensive mishap…otherwise she was as useless as you want to paint Onumonu. As useless as you want to paint Onumonu, She was more useful to us in holding up play and driving the team forward than your Superflop Agab-ya.
Since you want to talk statistics, tell us how many competitive goals Oshoala has scored for Nigeria since Waldrum was engaged and how many assists, she has provided…..LMAOooo
Infact tell us how many goals and assits overall, friendlies and competitive Oshoala has scored since Waldrum was engaged and tell us how many Onumonu has supplied and stop isolating 3 matches.
Your emphasis on only the last 3 matches and intentional neglect of the match against Canada where she was our best attacking players shows you intent to just rubbish her.
If Onumonu has been useless in the last 3 matches of this world cup according to you, Oshoala who calls herself agba-baller has been useless in all but 1 of the matches at this World cup and overall since Waldrum was engaged….and that’s a fact. Argue with the statistics on ground since you want to go the “statistics” way
He thinks he’s smart….!!!! LMAOoo
What Worked, What Didn’t For Nigeria in Australia?
In truth, Waldrum got some things wrong in Australia but that takes nothing away from the fact that the Super Falcons overachieved.
So, for me, what didn’t work? This is the time to be brutal.
1. Plumptre: playing a defender who has minimal dribbling abilities and an inability to pull off crosses was a minus one for me.
2. Onumonu: as a centre forward, Waldrum was unable to orchestrate a build up play that brought out the best in her. Onumonu’s abilities were wasted.
3. Oshoala: with a depleting skillset, Waldrum failed to give instructions that would maximise whatever Oshoala had left in her repertoire. Personally, I think he should have been brave enough to play her as a winger closer to the 18 yard box for pull out services only. She still has the pace to drive down to bylines.
4. Payne : despite her excellent output, some of Payne’s best work still came from delivering crosses. Her relentless and hard work down the middle masked some of the shortcomings of her work in that position.
5. Demehin : she was calamity waiting to happen throughout the tournament. Game after game, Waldrum failed to improve Demehin’s presentation. He also showed lack of bravery in not risking another defender in that position despite Demehin’s struggles which almost gifted England a goal.
Goals, where from? : In Australia, the two players (Oshoala and Onumonu) who occupied the centre forward position needed to be more clinical. Oshoala actually got into more prominent positions and she had efforts on goal. But her techniques were basic, timid and flat which led to shots that failed to trouble goalkeepers. As for Onumonu, she was always overstretching to reach passes and never seemed able to position herself in prime locations throughout the tournament.
As an attacking midfielder centrally located, Payne was weighed down with the task of moving the ball up the pitch that there was nothing left in her tank to take efforts on goal.
Kanu and Ajibade were positioned far too far away from the box 18 than they were comfortable with.
Ayinde and Ucheibe offered zero goal threats and were too far away from opposition 18 yard box to even contemplate taking efforts.
Also, there was over reliance on crosses into opposition box where we didn’t have enough bodies to overwhelm the opposition.
The key to the success of the Super Falcons was the inability of any team to break them down. But once with the ball, the Super Falcons also suffered from the inability to incisively break teams down.
Thumbs up to your aptly put analysis!
Simple!! they lack the technical nous to really stretch teams I believe I said this in one of the comments. You can’t just expand across the pitch positionally while waiting for balls to come to you no! You have make runs towards the ball or make runs towards space the balls are going to be played to.
As for the square pegs in the round holes,I’ve been lamenting here about Randy’s constant experiments and how imbalanced this team have looked under him tactically,why is Imuran not used at LB? Well he has his reasons though.
But his inability to be flexible with his tactics is his biggest failure at the SF helm and their performances was down to steely determination, collective grit and hard graft all from the girls locker and the only thing tactical he’s done is just defensive organization between the lines,so u see his tactics is a limited one.
As for the striker debate I think creativity is an issue,I thought Echegini would be the one but she’s lightweight on the defensive side of things and why is Ajibade being utilized on the wings? I didn’t blame the strikers cos the setup,the system was not designed for them to succeed in front of goal or how do you expect a striker that is languid to put hard yards in defending and still make runs into the box or a striker who is 80% fit to have the necessary 1st touch under pressure to be able to relieve pressure and push us up let alone score,these are factors a coach has to consider which is why I advocated for a front 2 instead so for me Mr Waldrum IS tactically limited plain and simple.
@deo, this is the deo i have come to respect with frank analysis. Every thing you said here is true, you could have done a better job than this part time amateur college coach we got on pennies to the dollar. I think Waldrum sabotaged Nigeria effort in this world cup, his substitutions made no sense.
Abeg to disagree on your accession about demehin, Yes she was a bit jittery in the game against England, but she was rough solid through out the tournament. Would you have preferred a Onome in that position. You quite right about payne, would have allowed her to play the wings rather than in the midfield. She would have being excellent pulling crosses for the team. Well for me the team tried
According to google player ratings for the four matches,
Against Canada,
Onumonu was rated 4.0
Oshoala. 3.9
Against Australia
Onumonu 4.0
Oshoala. 4.4
Against the Irish
Onumonu 4.0
Oshoala 4.4
England
Onumonu 3.9
Oshoala 4.1
Both strikers tried their best but according to @deo on Ucheibe and Ayinde, they positioned far from the box/Strikers hence the reason for his last paragraph (difficult for opponents to penetrate and at the same time, difficult for falcons too to penetrate opponents)
Majority of us had forgotten that without onumonu against Ghana and Ivory Coast, Nigeria will not be at the World Cup. And @Dr drey, the question should be, how many games had Oshoala played in total under Waldrum? Person that didn’t play surely can’t score. But thanks to Onumonu that filled the void when she wasn’t available.
In conclusion, it’s either we get a sound Midfielder that can make our strikers busy or start looking for a better striker from now on.
Oshoala and Onumonu have tried and their is reason why Oshoala is still the best we have in Europe.
Hahahahaha….Just look at the ratings of our so-called best…..LMAOoo…the who who christened herself ägba-baller”, a 4 or 5 time AFOTY winner, a former Arsenal, Liverpool and now FC Barcelona player as compared to that of Gotham FC player (4.2 to 3.97). Go to Opta too, the numbers are nearly similar. No clear distinction between the hope of a nation and an Onumonu who normally would be our 3rd choice CF. If Onumonu has been useless, Oshoala has been super useless too and grossly overrated. QED.
Sean, you ask how many matches Oshoala has played in total under Waldrum…..? From Aisha Buhari Cup to the Summer Series, Qualifiers, AWCON, Friendlies and the world cup are you saying she hasnt played 10 matches…..?? For her to now depend on a freak mishap between a hapless defender and her goalie to sneak in and score her 1st competitive goal under Waldrum…..LMAOooo.
And then because of that someone wants to non-grat somebody else’s contributions to the team…??
Onumonu is no more useless to the team than Oshoala and Oshoala is no more useful to the team than Onumonu. But clearly, the bigger flop has been the one who calls herself “agba-baller” with her glaring under-delivering acts since October 2019 when she last scored in a competitive game for the Super Falcons. Thank God for The Australian defender , who knows how longer we would have had to wait….LMAooo.
Maybe the real questions we need to ask is why our CFs find even half-chances hard to come by under Waldrum…?? Rather than trying to glorify mediocrity over mediocrity.
I kinda agree with you @sean the real issue is creativity but the good doctor has a point,if you have a globally recognized super star then the superstar has to prove to the world why he/she is one by being the first to stand up and be counted even Messi have once struggled at the international stage before he got a coach that knew how to best utilize his skillsets so my issue is with the coach and to some extent the NFF for their perpetual underfunding and lack of technical application.