He walked into the press conference at the Winnipeg Stadium on June 12, shortly after the match against Australia which his team, the Super Falcons, lost 0-2, betraying no sign of worry.
But once the interview with journalists got underway and he was asked by the TELL reporter what strategy the Super Falcons will adopt in their last group D match against USA, Edwin Okon, the team’s coach declared: “ We just have to go back to the drawing board because we must qualify. The players are aware of the mistakes. We just have to go back to the drawing board and see what we can do to advance to the next stage.”
The match against the US comes up Tuesday in Vancouver. Like Okon admitted, it’s a must win match. Victory for the Super Falcons will catapult them to the quarter final stage while a lose will see them return home.
The Falcons boast of only one point compared to the USA’s four. The other two teams, Australia and Sweden, have three and two points respectively. Exiting the competition at the group stage is one the Falcon players dread and recalling all their pre tournament boasts might serve as extra motivation going into the match tomorrow.
Aiming for victory against two time world champions, USA might seem a tall order, but it is not impossible. Anything can still happen in this group, as indeed elsewhere, and all the teams know it. Alen Stajcic, the Australian coach, painted the scenario better in his post match analysis that also saw him praise the Nigerian girls the day his team overcame the African champions.
“We can finish top of the group if USA drop some points. We can still finish second if we beat Sweden or possibly draw that game. And we can still finish third or fourth if Nigeria beat USA. Anything is possible in this group. You know, the Nigerian team, anything can happen when you play them. They are so spirited and (display) good positive football that can produce anything. So everything is up for grabs and we are not taking anything for granted,” the Australian Coach said.
However, Nigeria will confront USA without one of its star players—Ugo Njoku. The defender was suspended by FIFA’s disciplinary committee after she was judged to have deliberately elbowed Australia’s Semantha Kerr in the match on June 12.
In a press release, FIFA said the player will serve a three match ban as well as pay a fine of CHF 3,000 for the infringement.
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