Falcons coach, Edwin Okon said - "We lacked focus"
Falcons coach, Edwin Okon
Nigeria coach, Edwin Okon, believes the Super Falcons were not focused enough in their last Group D match against the United States of America on Wednesday at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada.
A lone goal from Abby Wambach in the 45th minute gave the Americans a 1-0 win and sent the African champions out of the tournament.
The defeat meant the Falcons left the tournament sitting bottom of the group with one point, which they got from their opening day 3-3 draw with Sweden, thus extending their inability to progress beyond the group stages of the tournament since their quarterfinal feat in 1999.
However, Okon believes the Falcons wasted their goal-scoring chances to win the match saying his opponents were better with theirs.
“It was a great experience for us here in Canada. We weren’t focused enough in a few situations today,” he told Fifa.com.
“Today (Wednesday) USA made the most of one of their chances and we didn’t, even though we had several.”
The coach added that the red card given to Sarah Nnodim in the 69th minute also gave the Group D leaders an advantage over Nigeria.
He said, “I wasn’t surprised to see USA make substitutions that were more defensive after our sending off as they knew they were playing a good team. You always have a 50-50 chance in every game.”
For USA coach, Jill Ellis, Nigeria were worthy opponents in a difficult group but regretted her team’s inability to score more than a goal.
She said, “Nigeria gave us a good fight, as expected. They’re a dangerous team. I’m happy with the way we played both with and without the ball.”
“We can attack with confidence if we have a good backline. It’s a shame we only scored one goal but we’re very happy to finish top of a difficult group.”
Wednesday’s loss was the fourth by Nigeria to the USA in the history of the competition. The meetings between the two countries have produced 15 goals with Nigeria scoring only one of them.
Nigeria coach, Edwin Okon, believes the Super Falcons were not focused enough in their last Group D match against the United States of America on Wednesday at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada.
A lone goal from Abby Wambach in the 45th minute gave the Americans a 1-0 win and sent the African champions out of the tournament.
The defeat meant the Falcons left the tournament sitting bottom of the group with one point, which they got from their opening day 3-3 draw with Sweden, thus extending their inability to progress beyond the group stages of the tournament since their quarterfinal feat in 1999.
However, Okon believes the Falcons wasted their goal-scoring chances to win the match saying his opponents were better with theirs.
“It was a great experience for us here in Canada. We weren’t focused enough in a few situations today,” he told Fifa.com.
“Today (Wednesday) USA made the most of one of their chances and we didn’t, even though we had several.”
The coach added that the red card given to Sarah Nnodim in the 69th minute also gave the Group D leaders an advantage over Nigeria.
He said, “I wasn’t surprised to see USA make substitutions that were more defensive after our sending off as they knew they were playing a good team. You always have a 50-50 chance in every game.”
For USA coach, Jill Ellis, Nigeria were worthy opponents in a difficult group but regretted her team’s inability to score more than a goal.
She said, “Nigeria gave us a good fight, as expected. They’re a dangerous team. I’m happy with the way we played both with and without the ball.”
“We can attack with confidence if we have a good backline. It’s a shame we only scored one goal but we’re very happy to finish top of a difficult group.”
Wednesday’s loss was the fourth by Nigeria to the USA in the history of the competition. The meetings between the two countries have produced 15 goals with Nigeria scoring only one of them.
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