EQUATORIAL Guinea mustered enough courage to bundle Nigeria’s Falcons out of the ongoing African Women Championship in the first semi-final played at the host’s back-yard on Tuesday.
A goalkeeping blunder by Precious Dede, who helped the ball into net, off a free-kick, was all the host needed to send the Falcons packing, thus denying the defending champions, the final ticket for the first time in the contest’s 10-year history.

SOUTH Africa also pounded Cameroun 3-0 to set the stage for the final showdown with Equatorial Ginuea. The Falcons are to meet Cameroun for the 3rd place position and this means nothing to avid soccer loving Nigerians.

THE NIGERIAN OBSERVER sounded a note of warning several months back that if Falcons must go far in the championship, the coaching crew led by Mr. Jossy Lad, must be over-hauled. That the Falcons scored only two goals in the ongoing championship underscored the incompetence and lack of tactics by Jossy Lad . At a point, it became an open secret that Mr. Lad was no longer in control.

GOOD players who were not in the good books of the coach were sidelined. Jossy Lad himself lacked the clout and became bereft of fresh ideas to go for good players who can make pressure pay.

WITH good patronage from the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), Coach Jossy Lad held sway and enjoyed every bit of his sponsors protection who did not see anything bad in what the national coach was doing.

EVEN tiny nations which had nothing to offer became a threat to Nigeria especially when Falcons were on duty. It was obvious, the dwindling fortunes of the Falcons in the past several months.Ordinarily, that ought to have been enough signal to overhaul the coaching crew. But the NFF held on to coach Jossy Lad.

Now the fun is over. The NFF should think of what to do with coach Jossy Lad and his lieutenants. The Super Falcons should be re-built by more credible hands. It is not time to be sentimental about who leads the team. Some patriotic members at the NFF know those who can lead our players to the promised land. They should be given the free hands to pick a coach who knows our players from the grass- roots.

IT is surprising that the NFF could hold back some of the players’ match allowance. Such allowance motivate the players to go the extra mile. Yet they were not paid. Coach Jossy Lad failed to cry out because if he did he knew he would be relieved of his job. A good coach who is worth his salt should cry out when things are not going according to plans.

THEREFORE, the coach and his entire crew should await their sack letters when they arrive the shores of this nation.

LUCKILY, we still have good coaches who can restore the Falcons back to their eminent position on the African continent and go on to prove themselves in the international soccer area. The NFF should not think of where the coaches come for.

They should expect high level performance from whoever is taking over from coach Jossy Lad who has had his best time with the Super Falcons.

DAYS of experimenting are gone . it is now time to go for good legs who can make pressure pay when the chips are down.

THE NFF should also perform such surgical operation in the Falconets. The little achievements in the team are going into the players’ head and the time to curb such excesses is now.

ALL said, we thank the players for their dedication and cool-headedness. They have done their best for their fatherland and should give way to others to try their luck.

THE 1-0 shocker by Equatorial Guinea, is a timely signal to Nigeria. The nation must come up with new crop of players for the female national team that can go beyond the preliminary stages of the world cup and other international championships outside the Africa continent.

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