Sports
French Woman Set To Coach Falcons
The Super Falcons of Nigeria are lively to be handled by a French women, Elizabeth Loisel.
The former France skipper is one of the three coaches shortlisted for the vacant falcons’ coaching job after the contract of Eucharia Uche was not renewed.
Loisel has handled her native France as well as the national women’s team of China. She guided France to fifth place in the FIFA ranking but failed to qualify the team for the 2007 World Cup in China.
“Elizabeth comes highly recommended and she is the front runner to take over the falcons”, a top official of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) disclosed.
“It is high time that a foreign coach took charge of the team that needs a complete overhaul”.
Other shortlisted coaches for the job are Dutch women Hesterine de Reus and Rivers Angels coach Okon Edwin.
De Reus has handled the Dutch women under-19 team and Jordan’s women team.
Former Nigerian International, Rita Nwadike and Mercy Akide had also applied to handle the team.
It was however, learnt that Nwadike, who is an assistant coach at Rivers Angels FC, has now been proposed to assist the new foreign coach.
The other proposed assistant coach is Justin Madugu, who was assistant coach of the female under-17 team. Bala Mohammed has been recommended to be the goalkeepers’ trainer.
The falcons reclaimed their African crown in 2010 but they failed to shine at last year’s World Cup in Germany.
They also failed for the first time ever to qualify for the All Africa Games as well as the 2012 Olympics.
They were eliminated by Ghana and Cameroon, respectively in the qualifiers for those competitions.
The executive committee of the NFF is to meet this month to appoint a coach for the women’s team, and as well, for the country’s under-20 male team, the Flying Eagles.
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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