NIGERIA MANAGER RANDY Waldrum expects potentially their “hardest match” from an Ireland side he has some ties to in their final World Cup group game.
While Ireland are out of their first major tournament after narrow defeats to Australia and Canada, the Super Falcons are eyeing progression in Brisbane tomorrow [KO 11am Irish / 8pm local time, live on RTÉ Two]. They need at least a draw to be sure to qualify for the knockout stages, but they could yet be eliminated if Ireland record an historic win.
Nigeria are ranked 40th in Fifa’s world rankings, 18 places below their next opponents.
Waldrom originally brought Denise O’Sullivan to the US when he coached Houston Dash, while Vera Pauw succeeded him at the helm there. His new fitness coach, Kyle Quigley — “a very good coach, the players have really taken to him” — was born in Northern Ireland.
Asked what he expects from the Girls In Green in Sunday’s pre-match press conference, Waldrom began: “I think we’re going to get everything.
“It’s going to be a very, very difficult game. In some ways, and some people may think me crazy for saying this, but this could be our hardest match. In fairness, Ireland have been unlucky in their first two matches. Certainly they were clearly in both of those games and if you get a bounce in one or both those games, there’s a different result and we’re having a different conversation. We’re not expecting them to lay down because they’re going home already. I expect us to get the best from them.
“I’ve been very impressed with their team and the way they play, their organisation. Obviously when you have a player like Katie McCabe on the field. And a lot of people wouldn’t know that I was the person who brought Denise O’Sullivan over to the US when I was coaching Houston Dash. I know her quite well and she is a great player. They have a lot of talent on the team so I expect it to be a very difficult game.”
On O’Sullivan, who now captains North Carolina Courage, the US native continued:
“She is very very gifted and talented technically. She is so clean with the ball. And in the first season or two, there was obviously an adjustment period as there is in any league. But she just got better and better.
“I’m so proud of her now because I’ve watched her play with the Courage and she has done so extremely well. I do know she went through a difficult time and we all handle those things in our own way. My experience with her was only a couple of seasons and she was the ultimate pro. And very driven. She wasn’t going to come in and be a short-term project. She was determined to have longevity in her professional career.
“And just watching her now, she’s even better than when I had her. She kind of runs the show in a lot of ways with her ball movement and soccer IQ. She understands the game so well. I hope I get a chance to talk to her after the game, I haven’t done that in a while.”
O’Sullivan and Pauw both spent fleeting stints at Houston. The Cork midfield maestro arrived shortly after the death of her father and played just 29 times, her minutes restricted after the departure of Waldrum, while Pauw was head coach from November 2017 to September 2018. Pauw has refuted allegations of misconduct from her time there.
“I’ve known Vera for a while, even back when I was working with the US team,” Waldrum said. “We’ve been in touch several times when she went down to Houston, because when I got to the Dash, it was starting a new franchise and trying to build and we’d all kinds of staffing issues and those kind of things we weren’t in a position to do back then.
“We talked a lot when she took the job, she was asking a lot of situations that I’d gone through and what it was like. She was telling me what she was dealing with and what she had. And so we kind of followed each other through social media and texts, but I’m only from the outside looking in because for the last couple of years I’ve been so ingrained in trying to prepare this team.
“I don’t know what’s going on in Ireland, I just look at the team, and the team is doing well. My initial thought process was she’s done a really good job there. I think they’re hard, disciplined, skilful, I think they’ve individual talent, a game plan going into it, and I think you have to credit the coach when they have the team organised that way.
“My assistant coach [Quigley] was telling me they are planning a big reception back in Ireland for the girls when they get home. I think that’s fantastic in their first World Cup, whether they won or didn’t, it sounds like they have the support of the people back home. I think that’s great, especially for women’s football. It’s fantastic.”
Nigeria have been a real success story in the tournament thus far, stunning co-hosts Australia (3-2) and taking points off Canada (0-0). Waldrum says Asisat Oshoala is “doing much better” after a knock earlier in the tournament. The Barcelona star will definitely play tomorrow but the question is whether she will start or finish.
Michelle Alozie sat beside Waldrom in the press conference. The electric California-born fullback and her manager spoke about her “fluke” journey to representing Nigeria; the Super Falcons were down numbers for a 2021 tournament in the US due to visa issues, Alozie was a practice player at Dash at the time and her eligibility process was ultimately fast-tracked.
Also a research technician in a paediatrics and oncology lab, not only has she caught the eye for her exploits on the pitch in recent weeks — she wears one black boot and one white boot in tribute to Mario Balotelli.
“Although it might have been a surprise to the rest of the world,” Alozie reflected on the win over the Matildas, “we were very grateful and thankful to God for that opportunity but we also worked really hard for that and it wasn’t much of a shock to us.”
“I think we’ve shown that we’re a better team than 40th in the world,” Waldrum added.
“So I would say I think we were underestimated and under appreciated. The hard part is a lot of the teams in Africa play African teams all the time and that doesn’t help the ranking. We should be ranked higher and hopefully we’re proving that to the world right now, that we belong in a higher place.”