'Except to waste resources' - NFF blasts Super Falcons coach after outburst

The Nigeria Football Federation Communications director, Ademola Olajire, has reacted to the criticism of the body by Super Falcons coach, soccernet.ng reports.

Randy Waldrum, speaking on the Sounding Off on Soccer with John Krysinsky podcast, when asked about how he felt about the upcoming FIFA Women’s world cup that will be hosted in Australia and New Zealand, between 20th July 2023, and run through the next thirty days, the coach said;

“It’s great for me as a coach and for the team to qualify and play in the world cup, but I have mixed emotions because I know we’re not prepared the way we need to be, and I’m very frustrated with the Federation in recent months, most especially in recent weeks and the lack of support from them at different levels because we qualified early and you’d expect the Federation to put more time to prepare for this, and that hasn’t been the case.”

Explaining further, the coach explained the difficulty in picking players from different parts of the world, with some of them on holiday and would require building fitness, while some others are currently in active seasons with their clubs, with the club reluctant to let the players go mid-season.

“We have players coming from all over the world, some of them their season ended in May, and as a team, we’re supposed to plan with them to find a way to keep them fit and in form. Some of them have had club seasons running into June as well, so trying to see how we can get access to these players and how to get them from their respective club countries to Nigeria or Australia, and the logistics aren’t in any way easy. We’re talking about 20–24 hours of sleep, and we must grab visas for everybody.”

However, he didn’t hold back and clarified that the NFF had not been helping prepare for the World Cup. He said;

“The hard part is, we were supposed to have an initial camp in Nigeria for about ten to twelve days, before heading out to Australia to have another ten to fifteen days of camp, but for whatever reason, the federation cancelled the camp in Nigeria. So instead of being able to look at all the players, we were also going to bring in a few more players as well and to see those we had question marks about, but that didn’t happen, so I just had to pick a final 23 from the last camp, and that was a massive blow to us.”

He mentioned that the NFF’s problems didn’t just surface suddenly, as it was something that had been happening for a while, from delayed wages to interference with the squad list. Reflecting on the incident, Randy said;

“When we played in AFCON, we ended up losing to Morrocco. We had two players ejected in the second half with about thirty minutes still left to play, so we had to play thirty minutes, short of two players, before going into extra time with just nine players, and they did a great job because we lost the game on penalties. After the game, the team had two days to train, but they boycotted and didn’t come out of the hotel room because they had not been paid. No training, no recovery, and we had to play Zambia in the third-place decider, so the federation came in and met with the team and explained why they had not been able to pay and how they could move forward, and they wanted feedback from the players. One of my goalkeepers, Tochukwu Oluehi, spoke out and said I’ve been in this team for over fifteen years and every year you keep telling us the same thing, and she got dismissed from the national team.”

With Oluehi out of the team, the coach had no backup goalkeeper, and he mentioned he kept fighting for her;

“I kept fighting to get her back, but then the general secretary and the president agreed to let her come back if she wrote an apology letter, and if I would take another goalkeeper in Nigeria that they wanted me to take, and since we didn’t have a camp in Nigeria, I didn’t have time to access the goalkeeper properly, and then they wanted me to turn in my final squad list, and they wanted me to include her. I’d never seen a goalkeeper that has never been in any of our camps. I refused to add her to the list, and we had a back-and-forth. Furthermore, I told them it’s in my contract to pick my team, and I will go with the three goalkeepers that have always been in the squad for the last two years.”

Super Falcons' coach with the team during training

The Federation didn’t let the coach’s decision go unpunished; Waldrum mentioned;

“Then they retaliated immediately and said, well, you pick your team, but you will be going without your assistant coach, and I tried to fight it, but they’re not even listening to us, and are not responding to our emails. The assistants they gave me are not on my level, and I’m only going for the players because my assistant feels betrayed.”

However, in a quote shared by Brila FM on their social media platform, NFF Communications Director, Ademola Olajire responded to the 66-year-old’s allegations by dismissing them as baseless and referring to the coach as clueless. The director said;

“We have first to ask when the European season ended. The man wanted a two-week camp for only hoe-based professionals. Two weeks ago, he released his final list of 23. There was absolutely no need for any camping for home-based again except to waste resources.”

He also didn’t hold back on his responses to the coach. He lashed out, saying;

“Instead of admitting his glaring deficiencies, he’s there shooting his mouth off. He knows he will not have Rasheedat Ajibade and Halimatu Ayinde for the opening match against Canada, yet he left out Ngozi Okobi and Regina Otu from the squad. His outbursts are nothing but an afterthought. He’s only talking three days before the team’s World Cup departure.”

Ajibade Rasheedat will miss the opening two games at the World Cup due to a previously upheld suspension. Despite the challenges and internal disputes, the Super Falcons are placed in Group B alongside Australia, the Republic of Ireland, and Canada.