The Super Falcons began their Mission X campaign with a comfortable 3-0 win over Tunisia in their group B opening match in Morocco. It was also Coach Madugu’s first competitive test as head coach of the team, and he excelled in it.
While the Super Falcons are soaring to their record 10th WAFCON title, Sports Intel looks at 5 things to note as the Falcons remain unstoppable in the game against Tunisia.
Mission X: Super Rinsola for President
When I saw the attacking trio of Oshoala, Payne, and Rinsola, I did not think Rinsola would be the star of the day. Everyone would have thought it was a day for Oshoala to bring back the old memories most fans had of her, and considering Rinsola was a debutant in the tournament, no one would have thought she would take the game by its head.
And without any doubt, she announced herself to the WAFCON in the best way an absolute star would. An assist and a super composedly finished goal, how else would you want your debut to go. And to crown it all, a super jubilation to pay tribute to the just passed Diogo Jota.
To show how effective she was on the day, she did all these in just 45 minutes because she got substituted before the start of the second half. We not only have a star at hand, we have the next Africa’s best right in our very own eyes.
And the fans are keying into that by voting her the Fans’ Player of the Match for the game.
Plumptre is pumped with quality
I remember a lot of fans asked where our “oyinbo” was when she missed a few games for the Super Falcons. But here she is, she is back with even a bang. You wonder if at the moment, there is a more technical player in the Super Falcons fold.
Ashleigh showed again why she is again a favourite among the fans. She showed a lot of brilliance in every sector at each given moment. Defensive awareness, passes between the channels, off and on ball movement, passes in the final third, a canceled goal and a clean sheet.
She was all over the pitch and she enjoyed every bit of it. She and Rinsola were easily the women of the match and to even think she played the whole 90, she should have been CAF’s woman of the Match ahead of Esther.
Madugu’s padlock is on lockdown
New coach, Justine Madugu, looks like he has got a hold of everything in the team. From the formation to the selection of his starting XI, the gaffer seems to have a hang of it. He also looks like a manager who is big on seniority, after starting mostly senior players in every position.
The players look like they also understand what he demands from them, and they are executing it with a lot of calmness and collectiveness. With the performance, Madugu should be proud and the end result.
Deborah needs to ease the ruggedness
Deborah Abiodun almost caused a heartache as she made a lot of fans flash back to her red card at the World Cup and a red card to Ajibade at the last WAFCON.
She was involved in a very rash tackle that almost saw a Tunisian player twist her ankle. That tackle could easily be seen as a serious foul play by the VAR if checked and would lead to a red card.
Deborah received a red card on her debut at the World Cup. Madugu made the right decision to take her off at half-time.
Mission X: Ohale almost ruined the party
Osinachi Ohale almost gave a penalty out of nothing, but the referee and the VAR made the right decision to cancel the appeal after deeming that Alozie was aggressively robbed of the ball.
That little moment in the game showed a bit of concentration loss from both Alozie and Ohale. Another set of officials could have overlooked the Alozie incident and awarded the penalty.
Those are not moments to have against rivals Cameroon and South Africa.
These are the 5 things to note from our 3-0 win over Tunisia. In another 2 days, Nigeria will take on Botswana in their second group B match.
