International Football
Our ambition at World Cup is moderate, says Super Falcons’ coach, Waldrum
Super Falcons may have no aim at getting to the final, let alone to win the cup when the Women’s World Cup kicks off in Australia and New Zealand later this year.
Their ambition is limited to navigating the group stage in which they will play against Australia, Ireland and Canada.
The team which has been without a win in their last five matches since beating Cameroon 1-0 on 14 July 2022 to pick qualification ticket for the World Cup. According to a media release from the Nigeria Football Federation, the coach of the Nigerian team, Randy Waldrum targets qualification from the Group B for the Round of 16.
In Nigeria’s past eight attendances, the team scaled the group stage only twice – 1999 and 2019.
The limited ambition is based on their past and current performances.
“After the disappointment of failing to make the dream of La Decima (The Tenth) come true at the 12th Women Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in staged by Morocco last year – the Super Falcons even failing to make the podium for the first time in many years – Head Coach Randy Waldrum is optimistic of an impressive performance at the forthcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup finals coming up in Australia & New Zealand in the summer”, reads the NFF release.
The American tactician is full of optimism, and is confident that his team can go far in the global tournament, but insists they have to take it one step at a time to achieve greatness.
“The first target for us at the World Cup is to advance out of the group stage,” Waldrum told the thenff.com.
“Everyone wants to get to the knockout stage but obviously in order to achieve that, you have to advance out of the group,
and now, our focus is principally on doing that.”
The Super Falcons survived a huge scare at the 12th Women Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco. Even though the team finished in fourth place, thereby picking the last automatic ticket from Africa to Australia & New Zealand, Nigerians saw it as a disappointing outing, and rightly so. For a team that had won nine of the previous 11 editions of the competition, losing three out of its six matches in Morocco was seen as a disaster.
The team lost to eventual champions South Africa narrowly in the opening match, and then lost to the host nation Morocco via the lottery of penalty shootout in the semi finals – with two key players red-carded. As it turned out, the Falcons failed to overcome the set-back as they eventually lost to Zambia in the third-place match by a lone goal.
Waldrum would want to quickly wipe out such an unflattering record with a better and improved performance by the most successful women’s team in Africa at the forthcoming World Cup to be co-hosted Down Under.
Nigeria will tackle Olympic champions Canada, co-hosts Australia and Republic of Ireland in the group stage of the biggest FIFA Women’s World Cup finals ever, in group B of the tournament that begins on 20th July. Australia & New Zealand 2023 is the first time that the FIFA Women’s World Cup will welcome 32 teams – the same number as the men’s tournament.
The Falcons will be domiciled in Brisbane where they will play two of their three matches, with the other game in another Australian city, Melbourne.
Nigeria is in the elite group of only seven countries that have never failed to qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup since the competition was launched in China 32 years ago.
Well-travelled Portuguese coach Paulo Duarte has been named as Guinea’s new coach, less than a month before their next round of World Cup qualifiers.
Duarte, 56, has twice previously coached Burkina Faso and taken charge of Gabon and Togo, while also coaching at clubs in Portugal, France, Tunisia, Angola and Saudi Arabia.
Guinea’s football federation gave no contract details when they made the announcement on Monday, but said they would be looking for Duarte to “restructure their national team”.
Guinea trail leaders Algeria by eight points in their World Cup qualifying group with four games remaining, leaving them with only a slim chance of qualification.
They play Somalia away on September 5 and then Algeria at home on September 8 in their next two qualifiers although a stadium ban means Guinea have moved their home game to Casablanca, Morocco.
-Reuters
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Veteran coach Louis van Gaal says he has been cured of cancer and is keen for a return to the higher levels of the game.
The 73-year-old announced three years ago that he was suffering from prostate cancer, but told a Dutch television talk show, “I’m no longer bothered by cancer.”
When he announced his illness, Van Gaal was the coach of the Dutch national team, but he has not worked since the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
“Two years ago, I had a few operations. It was all bad then. But it all worked out in the end. I have check-ups every few months, and that’s going well. I’m getting fitter and fitter,” he said.
Van Gaal, whose career has included stints at Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, reiterated a lack of interest in returning to club management but said becoming the national coach of a top-tier country could tempt him back.
He now serves as a special advisor to Ajax.
-Reuters
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In a compelling twist of football destiny, Davide Ancelotti is stepping into his own spotlight as he begins his first head coaching role at Brazilian club Botafogo—just months after parting ways with his legendary father, Carlo Ancelotti, at Real Madrid.
The 35-year-old has been appointed as Botafogo’s new manager, the club announced on Tuesday, following the sacking of Renato Paiva. Davide, who has spent the last decade working alongside his father at some of Europe’s top clubs—including Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, and Real Madrid—has signed a one-year deal with the Rio-based team.
This marks a significant milestone for the younger Ancelotti, whose career has long been shaped by his father’s influence, but who now faces the challenge of carving his own identity on the touchline.
The move comes shortly after both father and son departed Real Madrid at the end of last season, with Carlo taking over the Brazilian national team. Now, in a poetic alignment, father and son find themselves on different paths within Brazilian football—one leading the Seleção, the other steering the fortunes of a storied domestic club.
Botafogo’s decision to appoint Davide follows a controversial parting with Paiva, who was dismissed just days after their exit from the Club World Cup. Though he oversaw a stunning win over Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain, a 1-0 extra-time loss to Palmeiras in the round of 16 proved to be his final act after just four months in charge.
As Davide Ancelotti begins this new chapter, all eyes will be on whether the son of one of football’s most decorated managers can step out from his father’s shadow—and perhaps, in time, build a legacy of his own.
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