Nigeria Football Federation – NFF Technical Director Austin Eguavoen has revealed Super Falcons Head Coach Randy Waldrum apologized for his pre-world cup comments which set-up war of words with the federation.
Eguavoen disclosed he was not comfortable with the comments and so spoke with the Super Falcons Coach, who apologized for what happened.
Recall that 66-year old Randy Waldrum in two separate interviews accused the NFF of failing to give the Super Falcons adequate preparation for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and attempting to influence his choice of players.
The Federation in response through its Spokesperson blasted the Super Falcons Coach for being Incompetent, loudmouthed blabbermouth.
Despite the outbursts, Waldrum has retained his position and will lead Nigeria at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup which commences this weekend in Australia and New Zealand.
When asked about the Incident on Saturday, NFF Technical Director Austin Eguavoen told reporters: ” I am not comfortable with what I’ve been reading. I spoke with him. He apologized, he said he didn’t mean it that way.
” He felt if he speaks with a couple of people things will change, but it is not like that here, Nigeria is different, and Africa is different.
“But we have to do the right thing now, I’ve told him to just remain focused and forget about every other thing.
“Then as soon as the World Cup ends, we know what to do because everything coming up every now and then is a distraction for him and the team.”
On the teams chances chances of success at the first ever 32-team FIFA Women’s World Cup, Eguavoen tipped the Waldrum tutored Super Falcons to perform well despite the off-field controversies.
“I’m very optimistic that they will perform well. The first game is always very important. the first game will determine how far we will go.
“If anything goes wrong in the first game, then the team becomes jittery, but with the caliber of players we have, I think they are good enough to handle any kind of pressure and I’m looking at a very good performance,” the former Super Eagles gaffer said.
The Super Falcons are currently camping in Australia ahead of their opening game vs Canada on July 21.
The Nigerian Ladies played a test game on Saturday morning, walloping Queensland Lions 8-1 in the tune-up friendly.
Australia and Republic of Ireland are the Falcons other group A opponents.
