Super Falcons interim coach, Christopher Danjuma has apologised to Nigerians for the inability of the team to qualify for next year’s Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The African champions were held to a 1-1 at the Agege stadium in Lagos on Monday by the Les Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire at the Agege Stadium in Lagos, after the first leg tie had ended goalless in Abidjan.
Nina Kapho put the visitors ahead in the 12th minute, while Captain Asisat Oshoala netted the equaliser in 34th minute.
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Danjuma who has now failed to qualify the country for the Olympics twice, told the media after the game that the players tried their best but it wasn’t good enough to secure the Tokyo 2020 ticket.
“It’s unfortunate that the team could not qualify for Tokyo” he said.
“It’s not all about individual, it’s a collective things, they played well, created chances. It’s painful, but we can promise to go back to drawing board and promise more direct attacking team next time,” he said.
Meanwhile, former assistant coach of the Super Falcons, Rolanson Odey, has blamed the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for inability of the senior women’s team to make the 2020 Olympics.
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He pointed out the way women’s football is being managed by the NFF in the past years in the country calls for concern, as he exonerated Danjuma from blame saying he only came in to salvage the situation.
”I will not blame the coach [Danjuma] for failing to make the Falcons qualify for the 2020 Olympics because he was on a rescue mission, he was drafted in to settle the dust,” Odey said.