Nigeria’s Super Falcons will face Canada in their first game at the Rectangular Stadium in Melbourne on Friday, before tackling Australia and the Republic of Ireland respectively.
According to Soccernet.ng, Super Falcons’ head coach, Randy Waldrum claimed his team is focused on getting a positive result and is not distracted by the bonus and wage discord with the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF), as they start their ninth campaign in the Women’s World Cup against Canada on Friday.
Notably, in the last few days, the conventional and new media platforms have been dominated by reported stories of Waldrum’s disagreement with the Nigeria Football Federation over the issues of bonuses and unpaid wages.
Notwithstanding, the 66-year-old is only enthralled with helping the Super Falcons have a most impressive performance in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Speaking in an interview with Reuters after the team’s training on Wednesday on how the Super Falcons have been focusing on having an outstanding outing at the tournament and not being distracted by the ongoing bonus and wage divide with NFF, Waldrum said:
“We’ll be there. All that transpired before we came and I think the team, once we all arrived here, have just focused on Canada.
“We met about it the first night we arrived and at that point, we all just agreed not to continue to discuss it, not let it be out there, and that we’re here to do a job.
Furthermore, the American talked about the players’ professional disposition in handling the situation since the team arrived in Australia:
“I’ve been pleased about it because this very easily could be weighing and be a burden on the team, but I haven’t seen that they have allowed that to happen. They have handled everything professionally.
“I don’t think you will get any of the players commenting at all during the tournament about it.
Waldrum also spoke about the long-time issues that have been hindering the Super Falcons from contesting among the top teams in the World:
“At some point, there has got to become a realization about all the things we do day-to-day with how the federation treats the players and how they provide resources for proper training, travel, and all those issues
“It does not mean that Nigeria or any of the African nations at this World Cup can’t achieve a lot and make a deep run
“But if you want to be a top team year-in, year-out, you’ve obviously got to be willing to provide more resources,” Waldrum emphasized.
Randy Waldrum’s team will play their first game against Canada on Friday, July 21st at 3:30 AM Nigerian time.
