South African legend, Portia Modise, has blamed the defeat of Nigeria’s Super Falcons squarely on the refusal of the Nigeria Football Federation to hand opportunities to younger players rather than heavily relying on aged players.
Modise opined that the nine-time Africa champions have lost their winning edge because they keep fielding many aged players that ought to have retired instead of giving opportunities to younger players from their Under 20s.
Super Falcons have over five first team players aged 30 and above including captain Onome Ebi (39) who played all the four matches, midfielder Rita Chikwelu (34) and goalkeeper Tochukwu Oluehi (35).
Modise who scored 101 goals for Banyana Banyana said: “One thing that I see in the Nigerian team is that they don’t want to let go of the senior players.
“They need to give the young players an opportunity. Experience alone is not going to work. I see players that I used to play against, but now I am retired, they are still there. We need to give a chance to the young kids and young generation that are coming.”
Modise also said that Nigeria’s absence from the final is an opportunity for South Africa or Morocco to win the WAFCON title for the first time while the Super Falcons can try to understand what went wrong with their campaign.
Shea added: “I am so happy that Nigeria is not part of the final. They have been dominating us for so many years.
“But it gives them an opportunity to go back home, to go back to the drawing board and see how to come back with a winning mentality.”
