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Taju Disu, a former Nigerian footballer has said the annulment of the Nigerian Football Federation elections, held in August, is a sign of better days ahead for the country’s football.

A Federal High Court, sitting in Lagos had given an order restraining the FA from going ahead with the elections pending the hearing and determination of a motion filed by the Registered Trustees of the National Association of Nigerian Footballers (NANF).

The elections nevertheless took place on August 26 in Abuja with Aminu Maigari emerging as the new FA boss.

High Court judge, Okon Abang however nullified the election on Monday and described the conduct of the FA officials and its electoral committee as reckless and high-handed, while also maintaining that as far as the court was concerned, no election took place in Abuja.

Victory for football

“This is a victory for democracy and football,” said Disu, a staunch opponent of the August 26 election and who also went to court to stop the election.

“This is not a victory for Taju Disu, Segun Odegbami, Harrison Jalla or every other person who fought against the election, but a victory for every lover of football in Nigeria.

“Some people thought they were above the law and decided to go against a court order, but I’m happy they have been brought down to earth from their exalted positions and will now realise that everybody is beneath the law.”

The court also directed the Inspector-General of Police to ensure that none of those elected into the FA’s executive committee in the purported August 26 election gains entry into NFF’s offices in Abuja and Lagos and ordered that the most senior administrative staff member of the FA should take charge of the affairs of the association pending the conduct of a proper election to the board.

Contempt of court

The presiding judge further ordered that contempt proceeding should commence against all those who conducted the election. The contempt hearing will start on September 21 and Disu is delighted with the move.

“It’s a good thing they have been charged for contempt of court. I don’t know what they were thinking, or did they think they were going to get away with it?” he asked. “But I still think football should be run by those who have the knowledge of how to do it.

“A lot of us have shed blood, sweat and tears for football and this country but we have watched helplessly as politicians who are only interested in stealing money, killed the game we love so much. Football is actually dead in this country but we now have a fresh chance to raise it up from the dead.”

Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark elicited a barrel full of errors from former champion Maria Sharapova to post a 6-3 6-4 victory on Monday and advance to the quarter-finals of the U.S. Open.

Wozniacki, runner-up last year to Kim Clijsters, showed poise and patience as she engaged the Russian 14th seed in rallies and waited for mistakes, which came on ground strokes from both wings and frequently on the Russian’s serves.

Sharapova, 23, also slugged her share of winners, belting 32, mostly from her powerful forehand, but she gave more than that away on errors in a hard-fought match that produced great shots and some scintillating exchanges.

Three-time grand slam winner Sharapova, the 2006 U.S. Open champion, committed 36 unforced errors including nine double faults, two of which closed service breaks against her.

Tough match

“It was a real tough match,” the 20-year-old Wozniacki told the Arthur Ashe center court crowd after blowing kisses to the fans and showing off her bright yellow fingernails. “Maria is a great player so I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”

Wozniacki, who had only lost three games in her first three victories, said her ride to the final last year helped her deal with the pressure of facing former world number one Sharapova.

“I got a lot of experience from last year, so it definitely helped me in the match today.” The Dane took the upper hand in the first set in the fourth game when Sharapova, leading 40-30, double-faulted three times in a row to give Wozniacki a 3-1 lead.

Sharapova poured herself into the seventh game, hauling herself back into the set on her sixth break point to make it 4-3.

Perhaps exhausted by the effort, the Russian gave the break right back at love in the next game and Wozniacki clinched the set against the battling Sharapova on her third set point.

The only service break of the second set came in the seventh game when Wozniacki took a 4-3 lead on another double fault from the Russian.

Sharapova, crushing forehands, saved a match point to hold serve at 5-4, but Wozniacki rose up with her first volley winner and followed with a sizzling backhand to close out the match on her serve.

The victory put the 20-year-old Dane into the quarters against Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, at 45th the lowest ranked player remaining in the women’s draw.

Real Madrid’s
income rose 8.6 per cent from 407.3 million to 442.3 million euros in
the 2009/10 season, the Spanish club said in a statement on Wednesday.

The nine-times
European Cup winners were the first team in any sport to post revenues
in excess of 400 million euros in a single year, accountancy firm
Deloitte said in their most recent survey of the world’s richest soccer
clubs back in March.

Real reported their
net profit had risen 11.5 per cent to 24 million euros, and that their
net debt had shrunk from 326.7 million to 244.6 million euros.

The club did not
give a figure for total debt but a survey carried out by University of
Barcelona professor Jose Maria Gay published in May said it stood just
below 700 million euros at the end of the 2008/9 season.

Real suffered a
trophyless campaign in the last two seasons being beaten to the La Liga
title by arch-rivals Barcelona, but appear to be in a healthier
financial position.

In August, new
Barca president Sandro Rosell posted accounts which showed that
although the Catalan club’s income had risen to 408.9 million euros,
they had suffered a post-tax loss of 77.1 million euros.

Their net debt was
listed as having swelled to 442 million euros, and Gay’s survey listed
their total debt as being 489 million at the end of the 2008/9 season.

Deloitte rated Barca as the world’s second richest club by revenue, behind Real Madrid.

Venus Williams kept
the American flag fluttering at the U.S. Open on Tuesday when she beat
French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 7-6 6-4 to become the first
player through to the semi-finals.

Williams, promoted
to third seed this year after her sister and world number one Serena
withdrew with an injury, provided a dazzling display that matched her
sparkling pink dress to reach the last four for the eighth time in 12
years at New York.

It has been nine
years since she won her second successive title at Flushing Meadows but
her form over the past nine days has given rise to the belief that a
third crown could be on the horizon.

Her win came
immediately after the host-nation’s already slim prospects of winning
the men’s title were extinguished when Sam Querrey lost a centre court
thriller to Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka.

The pair slugged it
out for almost four and a half hours, putting the match programme hours
behind, before Wawrinka, who upset Britain’s Andy Murray in the third
round, prevailed 7-6 6-7 7-5 4-6 6-4.

“I left it all out
there today and I didn’t get to the quarters,” said an exhausted and
deflated Querrey. “I’m bummed, but I did everything I could.”

Wawrinka’s next opponent is Russian 12th seed Mikhail Youzhny, who slipped quietly through his section of the draw.

He earned his place
in the last eight with a convincing 7-5 6-2 4-6 6-4 win over Tommy
Robredo, one of five Spanish men left in the top half of the draw.

Semi-finals certain for Spain

The remaining four,
headed by Rafa Nadal, are all in the same quarter, ensuring Spain will
be represented in the men’s semi-finals on Saturday.

Defending women’s
champion Kim Clijsters was due to play Australia’s Samantha Stosur in
the first of the two feature night matches at Arthur Ashe Stadium
before Nadal squared off with countryman Feliciano Lopez.

Helpless Schiavone
Schiavone, who became the first Italian woman to win a grand slam
singles title when she won at Paris in June, could not match the power
of Williams but provided the former world number one with some awkward
moments by mixing up her game in the windy conditions.

She came from 4-2
down to force a first set tiebreak then twice came from behind in the
second set to get back to 5-4 when her serve let her down and Williams
broke to wrap it up in straight sets.

“She played a great match,” Williams said in a courtside interview.
“It’s not easy to play in these conditions, it’s hard to know what
decisions to make, but she played excellent.”

Despite defeating
defending champions North Korea 3-2, at the ongoing FIFA U-17 Women’s
World Cup on Sunday, the female U-17 national football team need to do
better in their second match, a former FIFA referee John Zaki has said.

According to him, the players were good individually but need to improve on their fitness and coordination.

“The problem is not
actually with the players but with the coaches. They should have
trained the girls to be fit enough. Throughout the game, they were
playing as if they were fagged out but it seemed that in the last 10
minutes they improved,” he said.

Zaki also warned that none of the players involved should rest on their oars.

“This was the first
match to be played in Trinidad and Tobago and I am sure that the
coaches who were watching would have seen the lapses the girls had and
will try to work at improving on their present achievement”.

On her part,
Falcons Coach, Eucharia Uche has attributed the way the Flamingos
played to the dicey situation of first games in any tournament.

“Usually the first
games of every tournament are usually tension filled and riddled with
uncertainty. Let’s not forget that the girls had it at the back of
their minds that they were going to be playing against the defending
champions, Korea DPR and that most of them have never played at that
level. So let us not totally focus on how they played but let us look
at what they got”.

The way forward

Uche is also sure
that the hard-fought 3-2 victory over Korea DPR will have given the
girls more confidence and composure to go on and win the next match.

Though the win over Korea will have served as a morale booster, the Flamingos have been warned not to rest on their laurels.

Zaki warned that,
“There are no small teams nowadays, so the Flamingos should not feel
because they have crossed the Korea hurdle, they have overcome. Though
Chile and Trinidad and Tobago are coming in to the tournament for the
first time, it is important that they do not take these teams for
granted”.

Uche agrees with
Zaki. “One thing I would advise the Flamingos is that they should
remain focused and work on their lapses and not be distracted,” the
Falcons coach said.

“I see them topping their group because the toughest team in the
group is Korea DPR and they have defeated them. So if they go into
their next match and all subsequent matches like they have no point on
ground, they would go very far.”

A host of club
sides will, this week, learn whether they will be the next port of call
for Nigerian defender, Danny Shittu, who was in the Super Eagles side
that defeated Madagascar on Sunday.

The 30-year-old was
last week released by English Premier League side, Bolton Wanderers,
but he has been linked with a couple of club sides in Europe and in the
Middle East with Scottish side, Glasgow Celtic, reportedly favourites
to secure his signature.

According to the
Glasgow Herald, Shittu is reportedly mulling over a bid from Celtic who
will find out this week if their offer is successful.

Neil Lennon, the
Celtic manager, is keen to bolster his defence and has already
recruited Sweden international, Daniel Majstorovic, from Greek club,
AEK Athens.

He, however,
remains on the lookout for some experience and pace in the heart of his
defence, and although Nottingham Forest’s Kelvin Wilson remains his
preferred choice, Shittu’s immediate availability has caught his
interest.

But although Celtic
have kept three clean sheets in their opening league matches, the heart
of the defence is the one position Lennon wants to strengthen, and
Shittu gives him that option.

According to the
Herald, a Celtic insider said: “Shittu is a player of considerable
experience and he has a bit of pace, which is missing from the heart of
the defence. It is no secret the club targeted other defenders during
the transfer window. Shittu is an option because he is a free agent.

“The player has
explained he will make a decision early in the week, so it will depend
on what other offers he has on the table and the financial package the
clubs are willing to offer him,” the newspaper said.

Leicester also interested

English
Championship side, Leicester City, have also been linked with a move
for Shittu to bolster their central defensive options.

Leicester City
boss, Paulo Sousa, failed to bring in a centre back on
transfer-deadline day after a bid for Swansea City’s Ashley Williams
was rejected. He then ran out of time negotiating a deal for Hull
City’s Kamil Zayatte, but he is expected to make a loan move for the
defender when the loan window opens on Wednesday, possibly with a view
to a permanent deal.

But, according to
the Leicester Mercury, the availability of the six feet, three inches
tall Shittu may tempt Sousa, who wants to add a defender with a
physical presence.

On Monday, August
30 2010, Mohammed Idris, the presiding judge in the suit brought before
the Federal High Court in Lagos by Harrison Jalla, President of the
National Association of Nigerian Footballers (NANF) challenging the
decision of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to hold elections
into the executive committee of the NFF without holding state
elections, was very angry.

One week earlier he
had ordered that the NFF stay action on the election slated for August
26 until issues pertaining to the case before him had been argued by
parties involved. But the NFF claimed it did not receive a copy of the
order and went ahead to hold the elections. Idris, feeling slighted by
the action threatened to come down heavily on officials of the
federation if he is able to ascertain that the NFF received the order.
The case was subsequently adjourned to tomorrow.

The election ranks
as one of the most contentious in recent times. Indeed, many have
argued that given the furore it generated, it has surpassed the 2005
version, which ushered Sani Lulu and his team into office, in drama and
intrigue.

One of the key
issues that pitted opponents against NFF officials was the amendment in
2008 of the statutes of the federation, which extended the tenure of
some delegates to the federation’s congress, specifically, the chairmen
of state football associations. Under the old law those elected in 2006
were supposed to leave office in mid 2010, after a period of four
years.

The first amendment, which extended their stay, had indicated
they would be finishing their tenure either in November or December
this year. When this amendment drew protest from intending candidates
for the NFF presidency particular former Green Eagles captain, Segun
Odegbami who petitioned FIFA, Sani Lulu, the then president of the NFF
who authored the amendment, withdrew the clause. In the final draft of
the statutes, which formed the basis of the August 26 elections, there
was no reference to election of state FA chairmen. This present
election, which saw Aminu Maigari emerge as new president of the
federation has also thrown up the question of which laws a body
comprised of Nigerians and operating within Nigeria but affiliated to
an international body should give preference to.

Nigerian laws supreme

The NFF by virtue
of it being a member of FIFA is bound to operate within the ambit of
the statutes of the world football governing body. However, in the case
of a conflict between the laws of FIFA and that of Nigeria, which
should take precedence?

“The Nigeria
Football Federation is subject to Nigerian laws and the jurisdiction of
Nigerian courts,” says Jiti Ogunye, a Lagos-based lawyer.

“By no stretch of
the imagination can FIFA laws, which forbid the interference of third
parties in the activities of national football federations mean that
jurisdiction of our courts over Nigerians in the NFF as well as their
processes or conduct within Nigerian territorial space be excluded.
Now, we are aware that court stopped elections but that the NFF brushed
it aside. As a lawyer I know that it is grossly contemptuous.

“The presidency was
said to have intervened the first time the election was supposed to
have held and the NFF deferred to it and shifted the elections to
another day. Now, the same body that deferred to executive arm refused
to defer to the court. This happened because both contestants and
organisers feel the court is toothless. We desecrate our institutions
when we disobey court orders and the court is enjoined by law to punish
such individuals.”

Ogunye says
according to law those eligible for punishment include both officials
of the NFF including members of the electoral committee and those who
contested the elections. He said the decision to go ahead with the
election despite court order reflects a typical Nigerian attitude.

“What salvage work,
what urgency was there that they could not wait to discharge the order
before holding the election?” he asked.

“Are we going to
another World Cup or another Nations Cup? It is typical Nigerian
attitude to disobey our courts. When the governor of a state issues
orders, we obey immediately. We obey the governor because we know he
dispenses favours and can bring in the police when we flout his
directives but we disdain judges, and say after all is it not just one
judge there in his robes, what can he do?”

Jonathan’s green light

The NFF may have been helped along in its decision to flout the court order by the acquiescence of President Goodluck Jonathan.

“President Jonathan
was informed of the court order but he refused to order Maigari to call
off the election,” a source in the NSC said.

“The President is
busy trying to perfect strategies for his candidacy for next year’s
elections and he doesn’t want to offend anybody hence his refusal to
act,” the source added.

President
Jonathan’s nod for the elections to go ahead was a huge disappointment
for officials of the sports ministry who had before the meeting with
President Jonathan tried to dissuade Maigari from going ahead with the
conduct of the elections.

No reprisals

Ordinarily in
situations like this where a body like the NFF, which is under the
supervision of the sports ministry goes against its wishes, sanctions
would have been visited on it. One of the ways in which that would have
happened is for the ministry to withholding funds from the NFF. Had
that happened the NFF would have run from pillar to post seeking funds
to prosecute today’s match against Madagascar in Calabar.

“We will not be withholding funding from the NFF. There is provision
made for them in the sports ministry budget and nobody is tampering
with it,” said Tony Ohaeri, spokesman of the NSC.

African champions
Egypt will today host Sierra Leone in Cairo as they start their quest
to secure a record eighth Africa Cup of Nations title.

The Pharaohs in the
last couple of years been one of the most dominant sides on the
continent and have won four of the last six tournaments but they are
experienced enough to know that they cannot underestimate their opening
round opponents and will be looking for a convincing victory at home.

Coached by Hassan
Shehata, Egypt have won the last three tourneys but with so many of his
dependable stars approaching the end of their careers, Shehata will be
trying to build a team that can defend the title in two years.

Veteran goalkeeper
Essam Al-Hadari is however expected to start against the Leone Stars
today. Al-Hadari has been Egypt’s first-choice goalie for the past six
years and is widely regarded as one of the best keepers in Africa.

The Pharaohs will
however be without Amr Zaki who is still struggling to overcome a groin
injury but his absence notwithstanding the Egyptians will still be more
than a handful for the Leone Stars who will be without their star
attraction Mohamed Kallon who only recently recovered from a knee
injury.

AC Milan youngster
Rodney Strasser however looks set to make his debut for the West
Africans. The 20-year-old, who made his first appearance for Milan in
December 2008, is one of 15 foreign-based players in Sierra Leone’s
squad for the game.

“I’m very happy to
be given the chance to make my international debut,” Strasser told the
BBC. “This is also a chance for me to come back home for the first time
since I joined AC Milan in 2007.”

In Lubumbashi, it
will be a clash of titans when Congo DR and Senegal meet with both
sides seeking to make up for the disappointment of crashing out at the
first stage of South Africa 2010 qualifiers, while in Lobamba,
Swaziland will host Ghana.

Essien and Muntari out

The Black Stars
have left out both Michael Essien and Sulley Muntari for this game, and
Coach Milovan Rajevac has insisted he has faith in the youngsters who
went all the way to the final of the last Cup of Nations and will make
up the bulk of his squad for today’s match at the Somhlolo Stadium.

“We need to do well
and build a good foundation,” said the Serbian coach, hailed as a hero
after the Black Stars reached the quarter-finals of the recent FIFA
World Cup.

The Black Stars
will however be without Matthew Amoah, who was top goal scorer during
the qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup, because of a knee injury,
leaving Rajevac with only Asamoah Gyan, Prince Tagoe and Yaw Antwi as
his strikers for the match.

The winners of each pool, plus the second-placed finishers in Group
K, will qualify for the tournament, as will the best two runners-up
from Groups A to J.

The Super Eagles
aim to win back their lost pride when they take on Madagascar later
today in a 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier scheduled for the U.J
Esuene Stadium, in Calabar.

It is a game whose
outcome will go a long way in determining whether the Super Eagles will
be at the next Africa Cup of Nations tournament to be hosted by
Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

With the Super
Eagles contending with the likes of Madagascar, Guinea and Ethiopia for
Group B’s sole automatic ticket, qualification should be a walk in the
park for the former two-time African champions. But with the once
powerful Super Eagles out of form in recent times, it will be foolhardy
to predict a comfortable win for Nigeria against minnows like
Madagascar, who are currently ranked 148th in the latest FIFA world
rankings.

In contrast their
opponents, the Super Eagles have for three straight months remained in
the 30th spot which has been their lowest in seven years.

At the start of the
year the Super Eagles showed so much promise and expectations were high
amongst the team’s fans ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations and the FIFA
World Cup.

First came the Cup
of Nations at the start of the year in Angola with the Super Eagles
disappointing fans with a third place finish; the campaign was regarded
as disastrous mostly because of their semi final loss at the hands of
bitter rivals Ghana.

The failure was
followed up with a catastrophic showing at the World Cup in South
Africa where the Super Eagles failed to go beyond the first round even
suffering an embarrassing loss to a Greek side that had previously
failed to score a goal and to record a win at football’s biggest stage.

This trend was even
carried over into the team’s first international match after the World
Cup as the side, now managed by caretaker coach Augustine Eguavoen
following Lars Lagerback’s exit, ended in a loss against a Korean side
they had previously forced to a 2-2 draw at the World Cup.

Professionals versus part-timers

With a team
composed mostly of players plying their trades in Europe, the Super
Eagles, even though more than half of the squad to the World Cup have
been left out, are favourites to beat Madagascar today but will be wary
of underrating the side from the Indian Ocean island nation who have in
recent years churned out a couple of impressive results against more
accomplished opponents despite parading a team made up almost entirely
of players from their domestic league.

Although they have
never qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations, the Barea, as the
Madagascans are known, have recorded their own fair share of upsets
with the most notable of them coming in 2003 when they defeated Egypt
1-0 in Antananarivo in a 2004 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.

Also, during the
first round of qualifiers for South Africa 2010, Madagascar played out
impressive 1-1 draws against Cote d’Ivoire and Mozambique at home but
their poor form on the road prevented them from advancing to the next
round of the qualifiers.

They also made it
as far as the semi final stage of the 2008 edition of the COSAFA Senior
Challenge Cup which is an annual tournament meant for teams from
Southern Africa. In their most recent friendly international, a match
that also served as the first game in-charge for new coach Frenchman
Jean-Paul Rabier who until his appointment was handling Japanese league
outfit FC Ryukyu, they defeated the Comoros Islands 1-0. Rabier had
once handled the Burkinabe national side between 2002 and 2004 as well.

No boasts this time around

But it is with
lowered expectations that the Super Eagles will be approaching today’s
match and there are no talks of a whitewash of the Barea.

“We will approach
the match against Madagascar with all the seriousness it deserves,”
said Nigerian forward Osaze Odemwingie. “We don’t intend to underrate
them or any other team in the group whatsoever.

“We agreed at a
team meeting that every game will be approached with the right
attitude, and that this match will not be an exemption.”

It was a view that
concurred with those of Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel. “I wouldn’t
say we are going to white wash them, but we are going to win.

“There are no
longer minnows in football, so we are going into the game to put in our
best, and hope with the support of all Nigerians and God on our side,
we would come out victorious.”

That’s exactly what
Nigerians will be expecting but hopefully something much better than
the 1-0 win recorded by the Super Eagles back in 2001 in Benin City.

“We just want to
win and make a good start,” assistant coach Benedict Iroha said on
Friday. “If we win with a wide margin that will be nice but there are
no small teams in football anymore.

“All we want is to go out there and win and then carry on from there,” added the former Super Eagles defender.

Unexpected injuries
to Joseph Akpala and Dickson Etuhu ruled the duo out of today’s
encounter. Even the team’s captain Joseph Yobo was, prior to his loan
switch from Everton to Fenerbahce, nursing a slight thigh injury.

Opportunity for home-based players

There are so many
other players capable of leading the Super Eagles forward line but
there is no doubt that Etuhu will be missed especially after his recent
impressive displays for both club and country. It could however be the
opportunity midfield enforcers from the Nigerian league have been
waiting for to stake a claim for a national team shirt.

Players from the
domestic championship have never had a fair deal when it comes to the
national team but there is every indication that all that might just
change beginning with today’s match, especially if the Nigerian-based
players that get to feature impress.

“There are a lot of
good players from our league, it’s just that they have not been given
enough opportunities in the national team,” said Iroha.

“We have been
impressed with them and some of them will definitely play against
Madagascar,” added Iroha, who insists there are no fresh injury
concerns.

“There is no problem with any of the players in camp. Everyone is okay.”

Nigeria’s
representatives at the 2010 FIFA Women’s U-17 World Cup, the Flamingoes
begin their quest for the title tonight (8:30 pm Nigerian time) when
they face defending champions, Korea Democratic Peoples Republic.

Organised by FIFA,
the U-17 Women World Cup, the tournament came on as a result of the
success of the first ever U-19 Women World Cup, which was hosted by
Canada in 2002.

Though continental
federations were sceptical that it will succeed, FIFA went ahead with
her plan after some modifications. The U-19 was changed to U-20 Women
World Cup and the first edition was held in Russia in 2006 while the
U-17 Championship was slated for 2008. Nigeria participated in the
maiden edition, hosted New Zealand, along with 15 other countries from
six continents. However, their opponents in today’s match are expected
to give them a hard time considering the rising profile of the women’s
game in that country.

Korea DPR won the
2006 edition of the U-20 championship and went on to win the inaugural
edition of the U-17 tournament brushing aside powerhouses like the
United States of America and England to win the tournament.

The present squad,
as well as their Coach Sin Ui-Gin, is determined to emulate the feat of
the last two years. And with players like Kim Kum-Jong, Yu Jong-Im and
Pong Son-Hwa the Flamingoes have their work cut out.

Journey to Trinidad and Tobago

Nigeria’s ride
through the qualifiers was a relatively easy one. They had been assured
of a ticket since May 2010 when they beat South Africa 7-1 to remain
Africa U-17 women champions. However, they were in danger of missing
out on the tournament when in July Nigerian President, Goodluck
Jonathan banned the Nigeria Football Federation from FIFA competitions
for two years. Had the ban not been lifted after threats of sanctions
from FIFA, the Flamingoes place at the competition would have been put
in jeopardy.

As the dominant
force in Africa, the Flamingoes are hoping to do better than they did
in their first outing. They had failed to go beyond the first round
when they were knocked out by England 1-0 even though they dominated
possession in the game. Their win over Korea Republic was not enough to
brace them for a battle with Brazil. In the latter match, with both
teams requiring a win to make the next round, but they drew thus
crashing out together.

Flamingoes coach,
Peter Dedevbo, has it all to do for his team to have any hope of
winning the title. Only one member of the present squad, Ngozi Okobi,
was in New Zealand two years ago meaning that he has to inject
confidence into his players to prevent them from developing stage
fright. Given the manner the ladies mauled the South Africans during
the qualifiers, that is possible. The confidence the ladies gained from
winning the two friendly matches they played while on tour of the USA
is sure to come in handy.

Though two of the
teams in Nigeria’s group – hosts Trinidad and Tobago and Chile – are
coming to the tournament for the first time, the Flamingoes cannot take
them for granted.

Dedevbo says the achievement of the Falcons will be a motivation for them to do more.

“The success of
[the Falconets] presents us with a big challenge. This is not the time
to lower our guard now that Nigerians are turning to women’s football.
We need to stay focused, and we can make the country proud,” he said.

Ghana hoping to get it right

Ghana will be more
confident at this present outing. In the 2008 edition, they barely made
it through the qualifiers and crashed out after the first round, but
not without valuable experience. This time however, the Maidens had a
better qualifier campaign.

Coach Abraham
Allotey who also led the team to the 2008 tournament is optimistic his
lasses will improve on their outing at the inaugural edition.

The girls camped
briefly in America before moving over to Trinidad and Tobago. Drawn
with the likes of Canada who reached the quarter finals two years ago,
a resilient Brazil, and relatively unknown Ireland who impressed in
Europe and came second after only losing to Spain on penalties, the
Ghanaian team is in for a tough time.

South Africa has always been involved in women’s football but this
is the first time they have been able to qualify for a World Cup. The
Bantwana began their campaign for this tournament in bold fashion
beating Botswana 22-1 on aggregate. They lost to Nigeria 7-1 but were
able to recover by beating Tunisia 3-1. South Africa is in the toughest
group after being drawn with Germany, Korea Republic and Mexico.
Germany was third in the last edition of the competition while Korea
Republic reached the quarter final stage before losing to USA.