The President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, has insisted that the female national team, the Super Falcons, are still the best in Africa, despite their 8-0 loss to France in a friendly played on Friday night .
In a series of tweets on Saturday, Pinnick highlighted that there is much work to be done with the team and promised that they would do the country proud.
“Our Super Falcons team is the best female team in Africa. Our pride in them will never waver. As with any friendly match, the game against France was more for the technical team to look at the players now and see who and what will fit.
“The result, though very lopsided just shows how much work is in front of us. We concentrated a lot of our efforts on our Super Eagles, but it was unintentional. It was mainly due to situations beyond our control and not limited to finance as well. Our female football teams have always done us proud.
“Hopefully, we will do them proud as well. So, I would like to just tell Nigerians that I, the Executive Committee and Management of the NFF, are all very proud of our Super Falcons and we know they will make us proud as they usually do. One bad experimental result does not change a priceless asset; our dear Super Falcons.
“Again, we would really like to thank Nigerians for their prayers, criticisms and support. Our Super Eagles crossed the first hurdle; qualifying for the World Cup in Russia. Now, we strive to make it a good tournament. Thank you,” Pinnick wrote.
During the game, France broke the deadlock in the 19th minute through Eugenie Le Sommer and made it 2-0 in the 36th minute through Valerie Gauvin.
At the stroke of half-time, the Super Falcons were down 3-0 as Gaetane Thiney netted the third goal just before the break.
The French recovered from a scare of Oparanozie’s hitting the woodwork as Aminata Diallo extended their lead in the 60th minute before Gauvin grabbed her second goal in the 70th minute to give her side a 5-0 lead.
With 12 minutes remaining, Gauvin completed a hat-trick to give the French 6-0 lead.
Still, the Europeans were not done with their opponent as they bagged their seventh goal with five minutes left which was an own goal by Faith Ikidi.
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