Kickoff (Cape Town)
7 August 2008
Former NFA board member, Ayo Omidiran says her heart hurt badly as she watched Nigeria's Super Falcons lose 1-0 to North Korea in the Olympic Games on Wednesday.
Omidiran told KickOffNigeria.com that she actually had hopes that the Super Falcons would do better than in Athens 2004 and possibly play in the final of the games but Wednesday's performance left a lot to be desired.
"It is the same old thing I have been talking about. We are not at par with the outside world despite the fact that we are African champions.
"When I pointed this out at the World Cup in China last year I was misread and taken for someone that did not want to team to progress but we must accept the truth," Omidiran told KickOffNigeria.com.
"The Germans have the best league in Europe and all their players are home based so you expect a high level of coordination in their team; almost the same can be said of the Brazilians and Koreans."
Omidiran also pointed fingers at the technical bench for some of the woes of the team.
"I will not blame the coaches totally for the woeful outing of our team in recent times but when it comes to player selection, they are so biased to the detriment of the team.
"I won't want to mention names now, but there are players on the bench the coaches know will never play because they are simply not good enough so why take them to the World Cup when there are better players here?
"As it is now only a miracle can see us qualify for the next stage though it seems very unlikely.
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