Former Super Eagles goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph has urged Super Falcons duo of Asista Oshoala and Ifeoma Onumonu to step up their game against Australia in the ongoing 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Recall that Oshoala and Onumonu had minimal impact in the team’s 0-0 draw against Canada in their opening game fixture.
However, in a chat with Completesports.com, the Atlanta Olympic gold medalist stated that both players have the potentials to cause havoc to any defence at the tournament.
He urged Oshoala and Onumonu to rediscover their form against Australia on Thursday.
“The duo of Oshoala and Onumonu are two very dangerous players but I really don’t know what happened that they couldn’t find their form against Canada.
“We all know how impressive Oshoala was for Barcelona last season and many of us expected her to bang in the goals for the Super Falcons.
“Notwithstanding, I want to believe that both players will step up their game against Australia on Thursday in order to help the team secure victory.”
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23 Comments
Omunomu for christ sake was our best player upfront against canada, she hussle like osihmen both in the wings and center forward position, the girl have great football sense and her speed have suprisinling improved compared to the nations cup, sharp and fit, great ball control.
Oshoala and ordega should please sit on the bench, i think Ebi is still better than demehin, the Young diffender defends well but lacks confidents with the ball, may come to hurt us going forward, abiodun is good but still need to learn, she lacks game control, i am happy halimatu will be back for the nest games, tony payne introduction to the midfield is the best thing ever happened to our middle, after perpetua retired, she was massive, her combination with halimatu will be sexy in the middle, plumptre i am sorry is not good in the left back, maybe should play central, we need some one like alozzie is doing for the right back, i think Jennifer echiegine can do better, uchebe ohale and nadozie are queans, Meanwhile i prefer 4 3 3 for the super falcons if they want to compete they should come out strongly against any opponent, enough of 5 midfielders and 5 diffenders, we are not coward in football, 4 3 3 as he the hot
Nadozie
Alozie ohale ebi echiegene
Uchebe
Ayinde payne
Ajibade onumonu kanu
I need Oparanozie ahead of Onumonu… Oshoala has to improve her finishing we have always said it that she will not get 50 chances like Barca ladies give her.
Sometimes, wisdom is better than brute force. We better be “cowards” against the co-hosts sir and obtain another creditable result. Then we can “express” ourselves against the debutants in the last match.
The three countries that have red cards are either Africans (Nigeria and Zambia) or black (Jamaica).
Morocco and Zambia “came out” and were walloped by creditably technically superior opposition.
Let’s still sit back a little and utilize counters, in my opinion. Aussies would be keen to attack us as they face “tough” Canada last. So, we can hit them on the break.
But I have a fear. Our players might tend to strive to get their world cup moments and selfishness might creep in and they play to the gallery instead of creating scoring opportunities.
Ebi is old and will be the weak link in the defence. She does not have the legs anymore.
Sexy in the middle?
Mumu Larry is Dosu also tribalistic for speaking out??? Your mumu no get size o @Larry!!!
I love your comment @sly, very reasonable one.
@larry, forget this your tribal battle with chima,
Oshoala have only been a star for her self, not for super falcons. She is goat of caf and Barcelona not for Nigeria female football, she even cost us the only female worldcup glory when she taped in a goal bound ball from an offsite position, denying us the under 20 wcup with her naive nature, though i forgive her for that mistake as she was the best in that turnament, ever since then no “level” she has been like marguire in our attack, helping the defenders to deffend against us, to be honest among all renoun falcons stars oshoala is the most dissapointing in national duty, she can pack titles for Barcelona and caf but its far from reality of our football, dribble zero, shot zero, speed zero, confident hmm, or even stamini simple ball touches, i nor kno wat is wrong with that girl on our jersey oh i am disppointed in her general falcons performances,
Despites her awards, in terms of our national team she doesnt make my first 6 attacking ballers, pepetua,stella mbachu,cynthia uduak,, mercy akide, vera okoli, desire even ordega, i rate these names above oshoala when it comes to nationa duty, that is why she is been attacked, she was minus 3 in our team and it has been like that for the past 4 years, she is blocking better players, believe me she and ordega is currently the poorest among all our attackers in this turnament continuation to use them will send us packing with no sentiment.
Haven said that i still will not surpport perpetua(the real goat of africa football) giving vote to another national against her own national sister(oshoala)that is witchcraftism, there is no excuse for that rather than jealousy, christain chukwu did it to okocha too, these open betraýal is all jealousy.
@OMO9JA, gift monday is not in form, i watched her in her league match she still need to grow, the players we are looking to do the dangers are the likes of kanu,echiejine,esther okoronkwo, ajibade, onumonu. Oshuola and desire should help from bench.
Okija Chima, you just displayed the manner you are brought up. I’m sure the truth is still hurting your hatred souls. I know on different occasions how you’ve tried to attack her for no reason.
Whoa among the current strikers is most likely to score or assist in super falcons ?
Now that you have come out of your shambles, it is my hope that folks like @kel and @Pompeo can understand to whom my previous comments were directed.
Dosu did not single out Asisat or tried to ignore her relevance to the team. Besides, he is not a recognized football analysts, a good analyst would have known that the coach played a defensive tactics, isolating Asisat in the front.
Larry you’re not wise because I called 3 players out Oshoala Onumonu and Ordega for their dismal performance and your kolo interpreted that as tribalism. Your mumu no get size!!!
Grow-up dullard!
An intelligent person would have known that the three players tried and apart from ordega who is prolly out of form. Ifeoma put in a shif and thats prolly are best match for SF in recent years. A smart person would not call the performance of these players dismal or label Asisat misfiring.
Next time, learn to watch national teams mind with a little sense of reasoning including the level of opposition and the coach tactics. No sane coach will go out attacking one of the most prepared and best managed female teams in the World. Asisat job was to hold up play and catch them on a counter. It’s not a rocket science for someone with good eyes and mindset to know that the few times we attack or awarded corner kicks came from this tactics. Go watch the game again and come back with an open mind comments.
You’re not making enough excuse why Oshoala misfires in Nigerian shirt. You’re just making noise!!!
@collins, you have a right to your opinion but singly out a player without analyzing the match plan can be associated with one’s level of intelligence or hatred.
Forget the 90’s or early 20’s where teams are winning by wide margin and players scoring for fun. Female football has improved greatly, that us why you can not compare Asisat with Mercy or Nwokocha and the rest. For Asisat to win the AFOTY in a record time at a period and be considered among the top players in Barcelona and the world is no fluke.
Asisat still remains the greatest African female footballer of all time.
u can hate oshoala for ur entire life dat wudnt deny her any glory ,,, one even said she denied us u20 wcup ,,
oshoala was flying high under coach okon bcos d coach played attackimg football but now we defense minded coach and u folks are blaming a striker even wen she doesnt av any ball thru on goal….
oh u children of hate ,,, na same hatred go kee una
Bros the tactics of your opponent determines your formation. I don’t think we would have seen draw if we had played an attacking formation against Canada. Where we got it wrong in the match was our counter attack, which was nothing to write home about.
If we adopt the same tactics against Australia (another good ball possession side), and our counter is good, we will beat them.
@hanif you’re just writing nonsense LMAO!!!
I am not a coach or a football agent, but I am a patriotic Nigerian who loves his country so much.
Hmmm, that said. I repeat, if Oga Waldrum really wants to go far in this year women world cup, he has to start Oshoala and Onumonu from the bench.
Doing that will send a signer to the rest of the team that we are for a business.
South Africa, Morocco, and Zambia could not get a point from their first match, which is very embarrassing.
Nigeria is the only country among the four that managed a draw against Canada. That is very bad kę.
Now, no matter what we say here, coach Waldrum will still start Onumonu, and he will play her for 80 to 90 minutes while the gaffer hasn’t seen anything wrong in Onumonu.
No doubt Onumonu is a fantastic striker, but she has to settled down in the national team. National team is different to club football.
Aghahowa was a fantastic striker at the Afcon 2000, but Jo Bonfrere did not use him at first. He used Aghahowa as a joker, and he responded well against Morocco and Senegal.
Westerhof did not use Amunike until at the final against Zambia in Afcon 1994, and he scored and Nigeria won the tournament.
Instead of replying on Onumonu and Asisat, if I were coach Waldrum, I would change the two players with another two strikers.
Bringing in Gift Monday and Oparanozie will give balance to the team. The coach should remember that his next match is against the host country, and if we don’t win that match, we have no business in this tournament.
We can’t be defending while scoring will be an issue for our strikers. Everything have to be balanced.
More so, Kanu has to start also. Thank God that Ayinde and Ajibade will play the next match. Starting Onumonu and Oshoala from the bench is the solution if the coach knows.
Thank God also that we have escaping NFF trapped against Canada, and Super Falcons are now ready to go because the confidence is back in the team after playing against Canada without being played any friendlies. Now, no excuses, our ladies are ready to go, and they will deal with NFF later if they don’t pay for their dues.
Lastly, I love coach Waldrum a lot, but I can’t love him more than my darling country, Nigeria. We have a scary squad and If we don’t go far in this tournament, blame nobody but the gaffer. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
“The duo of Oshoala and Onumonu are two very dangerous players but I really don’t know what happened that they couldn’t find their form against Canada.” Joseph Dosu.
Excuse me?! I am baffled by this statement. What is the basis for saying Onumonu and Oshoala didn’t find their form against Canada?
Oshoala kept the Canadian defenders on their toes with her marauding movements which almost led to at least 3 goals: 1 from a Plumptre long ball, 1 from a Plumptre throw in and 1 drive into the box 18 before being tackled.
Oshoala was as busy as bee in that game. In fact her long ball from deep was met by Onumonu whose cut back from the by line found Kanu who would draw a fine save from the goalkeeper off a bullet shot – only for Onumonu to be flagged offside as it was deemed that an offside Alozie’s hair touched the ball before falling to Onumonu.
Onumonu on her part did hold up play well and had a goal bound excellent shot parried by the goalkeeper. She did try to attempt inswingers and she was forceful in her attempts at penetrating Canadian defence. A cross from Onumonu to Kanu drew a world class save from the goalkeeper before the move was deemed offside.
The Canadian defenders couldn’t sleep on the wheel for 1 minute with Onumonu and Oshoala on the prawl.
These are Olympic champions for Chrisr sake and Nigeria are (according to Afcon results) the lowest ranked African team in the tournament and the lowest ranked fifa team in the group.
With all due respect to Dosu but a more holistic based analysis will examine Onumonu and Oshoala’s outputs from the angle of ‘collective efforts’ rather than individual angles.
As parts of the Super Falcons unit on the day, Oshoala and Onumonu performed commendably. They both helped maintain the shape of their formation in a manner that allowed them to take up promising positions.
If you interview the Canada defenders I am sure they would tell you how they had to constantly be on alert to keep the two Nigerian strikers at bay.
Saying that ‘Onumonu and Oshoala’ should improve ignores their massive team contributions against Canada.
What should Improve?
For me, the following are the areas that need to improve:
1) Quality of high and low crosses in opposition 18 yard box from or close to the bylines.
2) Quality and quantity of cut backs and diagonal balls into delicate areas.
3) Quality of corner kick deliveries.
4) Quality of Route One football and long balls from defence and defensive midfield.
5) Quantity and quality of through balls.
6) More compelling defence splitting passes from the centre attacking midfielder.
7) Greater imaginative passing routines.
8) More crossing responsibilities from the left fullback position. On the right, Michelle Alozie is really doing well with her offensive incursions.
At this point, at can’t accuse the strikers of not being clinical. For me, we are just not creating enough compelling goal scoring opportunities.
Thank God for @Deo whose well detailed post highlighted the main problems beguiling our Falcons however international football is a game of chemistry and I’ll like to believe that an Oshoala/Oparanozie combo will do more damage than the last match combo but as @Deo highlighted above the real issue is the creative side of our game.
The accuracy of our passes have been somewhere around 53-55% which is not great but decent and our long pass percentage is 24.92% which is not good especially if you’re averaging 33% possession and solely rely on quick counters to score.
We have the fowards to do the business and even the wingers but a glaring lack of “pass” accuracy in the final third and a lack of cohesion is limiting the abilities of asisat and co and should be worked on for further improvement.
Also it’s high time Randy gets his balance right cos this is the World Cup where the margin for error is minimal and he can’t afford to still be experimenting his tactics setup for example a Toni Payne on the wings will do more damage than the one in midfield and Echegini should start behind the fowards,Demehin being a bit raw for the occasion etc. Randy should start making bold decisions and quickly find the right balance for this team. I believe this is what @omo9ja meant but lacked the linguistic knowhow to post here.
And as for my fellow forumites who are advocating for an adventurous performance from our beloved SF well
Being careful is not cowardice. Thank you.
The defensive setup served Nigeria well against Canada. Truth is that for a number of years, certainly from the last 2 Afcons, the Falcons have not been playing cohesive football. South Africa, Cameroun, Ghana and more recently Morocco and Zambia have outpassed Nigeria. Wasn’t so in the past.
Oshoala’s role has changed. She started out by being a pure striker whose main attributes were strength and speed. And she was almost unstoppable. Then she was deployed to do more linkup play. And her passing accuracy was high. She has lost some of the strength, speed and passing accuracy but has improved in positional play. Ajibade is consistently reliable and will trouble the defence. Anumunu was disappointing at Afcon but played well against Canada. Ebi and the old defence and cover are too old. If we had played that Afcon defence Canada would have had more scoring chances. I think the young and far more mobile and energetic Abiodun will be missed.
Thus, I support a defensive formation able to hit on the break. Passes must improve and shooting accuracy and goals scoring must get up to international standard.
Go Falcons go!
The team has some great individual talents, but they lack cohesion overall. They defended well against Canada, and credit goes to Ocheibe and Abiodun for making things easier for the defense. Nadozie also deserves praise for stepping up during the match. However, the team’s attacking plan didn’t offer much. Perhaps it’s due to their tactical approach, but Oshoala missed some chances and could have done better with quick thinking, especially when she evaded a tackle and the keeper in the 18-yard box.
I’m not a big fan of Onumonu’s style of football, but I don’t hate her either. In the match against Canada, she was one of the best in the attacking department. She showed hunger, energy, and found good space around the Canadian territory. However, her decision making can be poor at times. She struggles to decide whether to go solo, aim at the goal, or pass to a better-positioned player. Despite this, she consistently poses a threat from the midfield, so I wouldn’t suggest benching her.
When playing against Australia, we should be cautious about pushing too many players forward. The Australian team will likely dominate possession and be eager to attack. This presents an opportunity for us to take advantage of counter-attacks. Our strikers need to be sharper this time because we can’t afford to miss too many opportunities; it’ll reduce our chances of winning. A victory over Australia would boost morale as we approach the final match of the group and the knockout stages
Thank you all for your brilliant analysis, my take on Oshoala and Onumonu is that the latter’s performance was much better than what she used to dish out in SF, Assisat attitude to national duty has dwindled over the last few years, when compared with her previous years performance, in fact to me she is the female version of Chikwueze.Comparing Onumonu with Oshoala, the latter is complacent while former always play with the whole of her heart even when she is misfiring.
Going forward let Assisat start from the bench for a proper mind – reset and fairness to other players that came to compete at the world cup.
We should cautiously surge forward and solidify our backlines.
Oyinbos are not known to be too sentmenta, if last performance is to be used as judge our sister Oshoala watch first from the bench after the coach can engage her in discussion on how best she can serve the country on the pitch.
They are the ones that are paid not you and me they should deliver Shikana.
The former is complacent while the latter plays with her heart even if she is misfiring
@deo, thanks for breaking it down in a way that will at least help those with basic knowledge of the game and watch the match with an open mindset.
It’s most likely that Dosu is one of those who come to this forum to search for content. Reading follow-up comments especially the ones from the open-minded analysts will make him learn to use his more of his left brain next time.