By Douglas Baye-Osagie
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The Super Falcons are in the Quarter finals and are up against the Lionesses of Cameroon for a Semi Final spot and an automatic World Cup ticket in the ongoing WAFCON.
We have a pattern in this country. The moment things get uncomfortable, we conclude that the local coach “doesn’t know his work.” Every Nigerian is tactical and can read a match. We rate foreign coaches higher by default, even when the results and context are the same. If this were a European coach with the same record, we would be calling it “rotation” and “tournament management.” Justin Madugu is not being judged on tactics alone. He is being judged because he is Nigerian.
The truth is, African women’s football has come of age. The gap is closing fast. Who would have thought Nigeria would be needing calculators to qualify from a WAFCON group that has debutants Malawi and Egypt? Both teams were only in the tournament because it expanded from 12 to 16 teams. Yet they made us work.
