Nigeria women national team coach, Christopher Danjuma believes his revamped Falcons will prove their worth in this year’s All African Games (AAG).
The Super Falcons will face hosts, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire and Tanzania in the women’s football event as they battle for the gold medal after missing out of a place at the 2016 Olympic Games.
But regardless of this set back, the handler insists his team have a point to prove.
[quote_box_center]“Yes expectantly in Nigeria everybody should hope and believe that we are going out there as African Champion and to prove ourselves as African champions. I still have respect for every team that comes to a competition,” Danjuma said.
“One good thing I have done is to psyche the players up to put the loss against Equatorial Guinea in the 2016 Olympics qualifier behind them. So they are now thinking of how to do well in the AAG in Congo Brazzaville.
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“The team is focused on going to Congo Brazzaville and to make sure we stamp our feet as champions of Africa.
“We have done our best before departure for the AAG to build a new team and also psyche up our players that are mostly home based for the task ahead.
He also lamented the absence of his best legs which he feels would affect their performance in the east African country.
“FIFA Calendar permitting players plying their football trade abroad to play for their country is not in our favour. This simply means that the AAG tournament is not on FIFA calendar,” he said.
“As we speak now we barely have the services of only four professional players that will help our team prosecute the AAG competition. I wouldn’t have loved to miss any player of this team that played in the Women’s World Cup. For this year’s All Africa Games I would have loved to storm Congo Brazzaville with strong and talented players sauch as Francisca Ordega, Ngozi Okobi, Halimatu Ayinde, Josephine Chukwunnoye, Asisat Oshoala but all these people are just not going to be around.
“Nobody goes to a competition and doesn’t want to come top. There is one important thing that I want Nigerians to know for instance Spain was the world champion at a time and at a time Germany took over. Football is evolving and every team is improving. It does not mean that you are stagnant but it means other teams are getting better,” he said.