Olympic: Ex-Super Eagles star bemoans Falcons exit
Ifeanyi Udeze, a former Super Eagles of Nigeria player-turned-sports pundit, says the Super Falcons’ exit from the Olympic Games on Wednesday in Paris was disappointing.
Udeze, who is now a sports broadcaster, made this known in an interview with journalists on the Super Falcons’ 1-3 loss to Japan in France.
Their loss to Japan in their last group match followed a 0-1 defeat by Spain in their second match and a similar defeat against Brazil in their first match.
With three consecutive defeats in their group matches, the Nigerian senior female national team exited the 2024 Olympics without a point or win.
The forty-four-year-old Udeze played as a defender for Nigeria in the 2002 and 2004 African Cup of Nations and also at the 2002 World Cup.
According to him, it is sad that the best of the Super Falcons is not good enough at the Paris Olympics.
”I know lots of people are disappointed, I am also disappointed as well. For me, I was expecting that the Super Falcons would win that game against Japan.
”I thought they would go all out to win, and I am also sure that the players, deep inside their hearts, wanted a win as well, but that is football.
”It is so unfortunate that the Falcons lost against Japan, having lost two previous games. It is annoying, embarrassing and disappointing.
”At the same time, the Super Falcons did their best, but not good enough for us as Nigerians. In football, these things happen,” he said.
Udeze said: ”For the fact that they did their best, let us give them kudos, maybe they will perform better next time.
”It is what it is, the Falcons could not even earn a draw, not to talk about a win, I think, basically, something is wrong.
”It is not just about female football, the U-17, U-20, U-23 and the Super Eagles, all the national teams, are having issues for now.
”I just feel that something is wrong somewhere and I am talking about those in charge of Nigerian football administration.
”The administrators should see how they can get things right; we have to fix the problem before we try to get it right.
”Those in charge of football should look at themselves first and try to see how they can make amends and from there, we can expect improvements,” he said.
(NAN)
