Ofoegbu still
dreaming of glory
Having squandered a hatful of chances against Mexico
in the quarter-finals of the FIFA Women's U-20 World Cup Japan 2012, Nigeria
came perilously close to crashing out of the tournament before Desire
Oparanozie's extra-time goal sent them through. They then experienced the same
difficulties against USA ,
only this time the Falconets paid the price, failing to score despite creating
plenty of chances and conceding twice at the other end.
With the team now certain to come up short compared with
Germany 2010, when they made it through
to the final, captain Gloria Ofoegbu certainly has some regrets. "I think
that everything worked fine, as it usually does," she said to FIFA.com as
she left an eerily silent locker-room after the 2-0 defeat. "Everything
that is apart from converting our chances – we ended up missing most of the
ones that came our way."
Aiming for third
place
Coach Okon Edwin's charges will have to make do with the
match for third place and the opportunity to finish on the podium nevertheless.
"Third place wouldn't be that bad at the end of the day," said
Ofoegbu, who finally managed a smile as she added that the Falconets would give
it their all in their final match here in Japan .
"We began the tournament looking to make the final at least and
unfortunately we didn't manage to do that. But once the final whistle blew, we
set ourselves a new goal. Being the third-best team in the world in this age
group would be pretty good."
A look at recent results would suggest that Nigeria's
women's football is going downhill, having failed to qualify for the Women's
Olympic Football Tournament at the London 2012 and falling in the first round
of the FIFA Women's World Cup 2011™, but Ofoegbu refutes that argument.
"We're not going backwards," the U-20 captain
said. "We managed to become one of the top teams in the world two years
ago and making it to the semi-finals this year proves that we've maintained our
level. We've made progress and I actually thing that we're better than USA
– we just didn't have the luck at the right time."
They will need both luck and a cool head in front of goal if
they are to defeat the hosts and finish the tournament on a high note, however.
Ofoegbu, who already has tasted life at the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in 2008
and at the U-20 version in 2010, has been trying to motivate her team-mates for
one last effort.
"The first thing I did in the locker-room was to remind
them that we still have one match to go," she concluded. "The
tournament isn't over yet, even if we can't win it any more. If we're low on
morale, we won't be able to win this match. We at least need to be going home
with a bronze medal, and we need to work on converting more of our chances than
in the last match. It’s the only way we can keep making progress and achieve
our objectives. We need work more and work harder."
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