Nigeria WNT Coach Opens Up : Why We Lost 8-0 To France

Super Falcons head coach Thomas Dennerby has opened up on the factors that contributed to Nigeria WNT humiliating 8-0 loss to France in an international friendly at the MMArena (Le Mans) last month.

In summary, the Swedish football tactician pointed out they had traveling difficulties and could not properly train ahead of the match, and added that the team will perform better in future games if they are at full-strength.

''It was a good experience, the result was lousy, we didn't perform at a level that we had to. You have to know France is probably one of the best  teams in the world at the moment,'' explained Thomas Dennerby.

''Three weeks before we played them they beat Germany 3-0. We were unlucky, the Super Falcons haven't been together since November 2016, so it was like 17 months without having a camp.

''There was another issue with visas, some people couldn't come, some were injured, some were sick.''

He added : ''When the players were on their way to France, the Transport Union went on strike so the plane with the players and staff had to go to Turkey with Turkish Airlines and the players coming in from other places than Nigeria, they arrived in the morning on Wednesday because they couldn't go by train to Le Mans.

''It was like three hours from Paris so they had to sit in the bus from 9 in the morning to 5 pm, waiting in the bus for the last teammates to arrive.

''The first day of camp was cancelled because there were no players. I was sitting alone in the hotel waiting for everyone to arrive late Wednesday night.

''We have only one day to prepare the team to play against France. I am satisfied with the girls but of course not with the result. They absolutely tried to do their best under the circumstances.''

Thomas Dennerby says he is experienced enough to know that kind of result is one-off and there is no need to press the panic button, and also revealed that he is learning new tricks that are helping him to adapt to coaching in Nigeria.

''I know that the team will perform so much better in future when we have time to prepare them in a proper way. I am not worried at all, that's probably one of the good things with me that I have been in this business for so long and I have this experience that something like this can happen.

''I know the capacity of the team and I know we will perform so much better in the future when we have time to prepare,'' he concluded.

The Super Falcons camp for the 2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations qualifier against Gambia opened on May 10 in Abuja.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : fff.fr