2022 WAFCON: What are the Super Falcons’ chances of retaining the trophy?

The 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) is in full swing in the North African country of Morocco. As of press time, the teams have played their last group matches and the teams proceeding to the knockout phase have been determined, while the others have been sent back home.

The 2022 WAFCON is Africa’s flagship national team football tournament for women on the continent. The competition resumes after a two-year break, as the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As expected, the Super Falcons of Nigeria, the defending champions and the most successful team in this tournament, qualified for the championship and are doing battle in Rabat, the capital of Morocco.

As the Super Falcons rub shoulders with other teams on the continent, this piece previews the team’s chances and attempts to inquire if Africa’s most successful female team can retain its title and, most importantly, qualify for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Table of Content hide 1What is WAFCON? 2Highest winners of WAFCON 3What are Nigeria’s chances at WAFCON 2022?

What is WAFCON?

WAFCON stands for Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON). It is the women’s equivalent of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) organised for male footballers. As earlier mentioned, WAFCON, previously known as the Africa Women Cup of Nations (AWCON), is the continent’s flagship and most prestigious football competition for African women.

The inaugural WAFCON was held in 1991. From 1991 to 1995, the tournament was played on a home and away basis. Four teams participated in the inaugural tournament, while eight teams participated in the 1995 edition.

Since 1998, the tournament has been held biennially. Its format also changed, with a qualification phase introduced for teams to battle and secure a spot in the main competition of eight teams. After the group phase in the main competition, the first and second-placed teams in Groups A and B qualify for the semi-final, out of which two teams progress to the final.

On August 6, 2015, the Executive Committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Africa’s football governing body, changed the name of the tournament from the African Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) to the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.

The tournament has been expanded for the 2022 edition, with 12 teams drawn to compete in three groups. The top two teams in each group and the two best third-placed teams (better known as best losers) advance to the quarter-finals, which will be played for the first time in the competition’s history. The four winners in the quarter-finals progress to the semi-finals, ut of which two teams progress to the final.

WAFCON has served as a qualifying tournament for the FIFA Women’s World Cup since its inception in 1991. For the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, three teams (winner, losing finalist, and the third-place winner) will qualify automatically for the Mundial, while the fourth team (loser of the third-place playoff) will face a team from another continent in a play-off and the winner of the game will be at the competition.

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Highest winners of WAFCON

The Women’s Africa Cup of Nations has been held 13 times since 1991. Only two teams have won the competition since its inception. They are:

• Nigeria: 11-time champions (1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2016 and 2018); and
• Equatorial Guinea: two-time winners (2008 and 2012).

What are Nigeria’s chances at WAFCON 2022?

As stated in the prologue, Nigeria entered into and qualified for WAFCON 2022 as the defending champions. As current champions, the Super Falcons, Nigeria’s female football team, are one of the teams to beat. However, unlike in other years, the team is not the favourite to win the competition. This can be attributed to the poor showing of the team under Randy Waldrum. The American coach has overseen some of the worst displays and results of the team in its 31-year history.

For example, the Falcons, in 2021, lost to Jamaica and the United States of America and struggled to get a draw with Portugal in their tour of the US. Also, the team scandalously lost to South Africa, a team that is now being revered as Nigeria’s fiercest rival in women’s football, in the Aisha Buhari Cup held in September 2021 in Lagos. Despite having a nearly full complement of personnel, the team struggled in its gameplay as the players could barely string passes and hold possession, while the defence was an open leak of a catastrophic enormity.

The team ended the year 2021 playing the 2022 WAFCON qualifier, securing a 2-0 win against the Black Queens of Ghana in the first leg in Lagos but lost 0-1 in the return leg in Accra. Again, the performance in both matches was far from what Nigerians have seen of this team in previous years and did not also reflect the huge potential that this team has.

The year 2022 began with a 3-0 aggregate win for the Super Falcons against Cote d’Ivoire to secure qualification for the 2022 WAFCON. The team then played two warm-up friendlies against Canada in April, losing the first game 0-2 and getting a 2-2 draw in the second game three days later.

So, while there was the usual buzz surrounding the team as defending champions and a charge from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for them to win the La Decima (a Spanish term for the 10th title) as they left for Morocco, African women’s football experts and pundits, however, indicated that the Super Falcons went to the tournament in a shaky mode, with some of them publicly doubting and questioning if the team can retain the title.

Indeed, the pundits’ fear was manifested by the team’s 1-2 loss to archrivals, the Bayana Bayana of South Africa, in the first Group C game. The performance of the Falcons was out of sorts, while Waldrum made some very questionable decisions such as leaving players like Ngozi Okobi and Francisca Ordega on the bench. Questions also arose as to why he played Ashleigh Plumptre out of position at left-back, Rasheedat Ajibade in midfield and striker Ifeoma Onumonu as a left-winger.

However, the biggest questionable traits of the coach deciphered from that game were his match-reading and man-management skills. Why did he leave Asisat Oshoala, the team’s star striker, on the pitch for close to 80 minutes after she picked up an injury and it was obvious that she was struggling?

Why did he not fully utilise the five substitutions afforded to him to bring on Okobi and Gift Monday, the Bayelsa Queens star, who is currently the most prolific player in the Nigeria Women’s Football League, to alter the shape of the team? In addition, there have been doubts about what strategies he planned and implemented in training sessions because the team’s transition from defence to attack was atrocious, to the extent that they relied mainly on long balls.

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The players could not string passes together for a sustained period and the solitary goal scored by Ajibade came from a set-piece. In terms of the team’s defending, the less one analyses the better, as the backline was shredded to pieces by two well-worked goals in the space of three minutes in the second half.

After being heavily bashed by the Nigerian sports media (to which he responded and almost attempted a sporting suicide to take on the journalists, but for the intervention of the NFF), Waldrum seems to have learnt some lessons in the second game, an improved 2-0 win for the Falcons against Bostwana. The coach played a 4-1-4-1 formation when attacking and the team only reverted to his preferred 4-3-3 formation when defending. He also placed square pegs in square holes, meaning he chose the right players and put them in their right positions.

With Oshoala out of the tournament through injury, Onumonu played upfront as a proper central striker and Ajibade was moved from midfield to her rightful attacking position. Okobi, Ordega and Christy Uchebe (who came from the bench in the second half) also showed what the team missed in the first game as they dictated the rhythm of the game from their outlets. The biggest revelation for Nigerians in the game was the display of Monday, who was brought in as one of the five substitutions. Her cameo display showed that she is ready to challenge the regulars for a spot in the team.

The Falcons expectedly thrashed Burundi 4-0 in their last group game and have qualified for the knockout stage. Ajibade, Uchenna Kanu and Uchebe were the powerhouses of the team in the game. However, despite the wins, the displays of the team were not as flamboyant as expected against, with due respect, minnows in African women’s football. Waldrum might have been scratching his head over the team’s profligacy in front of goal, as the team missed numerous opportunities to increase the scoreline in both games.

The first half stats says it all. Quite baffling that Nigeria had 16 attempts and only converted three.

Poor! #SuperFalcons #WAFCON2022

— Gabriel Ntoka (@Gabntoka) July 10, 2022

Also, the coach will need to decide on who will permanently play the left-back position after he placed Toni Payne – who is traditionally a winger – there in the game against Bostwana; and her sister, Nicole – who is a striker – in the game against Burundi. Against more compact teams, the Paynes could have easily been the weak links of the team in that position.

But it is from the quarter-finals that the girls will be differentiated from the women, and with the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon confirmed as Nigeria’s opponents, Waldrum will have to step up his tactics to ensure that the Super Falcons power their way all through to the final and qualify for the Women’s World Cup. Unlike other years when one team was the likely bogey opponent, teams such as South Africa, Morocco, Senegal and Cameroon are tough teams who are hunting to clip the wings of the Falcons.

He will also have to worry about the individualistic play and showboating exhibited by some of the players. Some of the players in the last two group games refused to pass or release the ball at times when their teammates are free and could be in better positions, instead they held onto the ball or moved with it aimlessly. Against more compact teams, such selfishness exhibited by some of the girls will be the bane of the team and cost them important matches in the competition.

FT: Burundi 0-4 Nigeria. Good win for the #SuperFalcons & a much more improved display.

However, the inability of not being clinical in front of goal is a BIG WORRY! And it's more worrying, especially as the team will face Cameroon in QF.

Urgent improvement needed!#WAFCON2022

— Gabriel Ntoka (@Gabntoka) July 10, 2022

Can the Falcons make it La Decima and bring the trophy home again for the 10th time. Only time and (an improved) Waldrum can tell.

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