Super Falcons, Flamingos and the Real Enemy: Our Own Bad Planning

Nigerian football is in mourning again, but the shame isn't about a lack of talent. The shame is that we keep sending our best warriors into battle without weapons. The Super Falcons' early exit from the Women's Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco lit up social media, and the technical crew got the red card. The NFF took its share of the blame too. But if we stop there, we're treating ringworm while ignoring leprosy. We're sitting on a keg of gunpowder and pretending it won't explode. Greater shame is coming if we don't fix the root of this problem.

Why do Nigerian teams keep failing at major tournaments?

The pattern is the same across all our national teams. Preparation is an afterthought, and expectation is treated like magic. Take the U-20 girls currently in Poland. They qualified months ago, yet questions around their travel, camping and welfare only surfaced late. Nobody checked the foundation, but everyone expects Coach Moses Aduku and the girls to perform wonders. Yes, Nigerian girls can do magic on the pitch. But magic cannot cover cracks for long. When reality stares back at us, we all pretend to be surprised.

What went wrong with the Super Falcons at WAFCON?

The senior team's story is the same. WAFCON came in the middle of the European season. Players were hurriedly assembled from holiday. No proper pre-season, no fitness base, and psychologically the team was down even before kickoff. Some players reportedly cried out over poor preparations before the tournament started. We still demanded miracles.

When results don't come, we blame Nigerian coaches and rush to hire foreign ones, believing an oyinbo coach will get better support. The truth is, any coach, local or foreign, needs time, camp, friendlies and planning to succeed. A black coach asking for the right things is tagged as begging for favours. A foreign coach asking for the same is called professionalism. That double standard is killing us.

Are the Flamingos being set up to fail again?

The cycle is about to repeat. The Flamingos will start the WAFU B tournament in Côte d'Ivoire on September 15, less than 20 days away. The domestic league is not in session. The girls last played a competitive match over a month ago against the Benin Republic. They are practically on holiday and won't resume until the end of August. You cannot take girls off for weeks and expect them to hit peak in two weeks. Sports science says they need at least six weeks to regain conditioning. Anything less is setting them up to fail.

This Flamingos set is one of the best assembled in recent years. If they fail for reasons outside their control, it will be the end of a generation, and also the end of the job for a technical crew that was never given a chance to succeed.

What is the root cause of Nigeria's football failures?

The Super Eagles missed the World Cup. Now the Mama Eagles failed at WAFCON. These are not coincidences. They are symptoms of one fundamental problem: we do not plan. We politicise. We react.

Our problem is not an absence of talent. Nigeria is blessed with girls who can compete with the best in the world. Our problem is that we lay beds of last-minute camping, unpaid allowances, poor friendlies, and no league, then we expect to sleep on gold.

Even well-meaning incentives miss the mark. The NSC, especially the welfare committee, recently focused on a $10,000 reward for each goal scored. Good move, you say. But what if that money was invested in preparing the team instead? Where is the synergy between the NSC and NFF in setting the right priorities? We celebrate bonuses after the fact, but neglect the foundation before the tournament.

How can Nigerian women's football be fixed?

For Nigerian women's football to get better, preparation must come first. That means:

• A proper calendar that aligns with FIFA and CAF windows so players are not pulled from holiday.
• Six to eight weeks of quality camping with test matches before major tournaments.
• A functional domestic league so players are match-fit year-round.
• Welfare and logistics sorted months ahead, not days before departure.
• Proper synergy between NSC and NFF so funds go into preparation, not just post-goal rewards.

This is not about blaming anyone. It is about saving the next generation from the same cycle of despair. Criticise this piece if you want. But channel that same energy into asking the hard questions about how we prepare our teams.

We deserve better times. And better times will only come when we prepare for them.