AHEAD of Nigeria’s crunch tie with the Copper Queens of Zambia in a Group C game at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), the Super Falcons are maintaining a united front, assuring fans that the team has put behind the opening match loss against Malawi.
In a press conference ahead of the match billed for Saturday, both Coach Justin Madugu and goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie defended the squad despite the social media backlash that followed the Malawi loss.
They said the Super Falcons are now fully focused on securing all three points against Zambia on Saturday.
Nnadozie said despite the criticisms over the shocking defeat to Malawi, the Super Falcons cannot be tagged a “bad team”.
“Coming on social media to apologise… I just feel like it was necessary to let the fans know that what happened was not intentional. This is football: sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but that doesn’t make us a bad team,” the Brighton goalkeeper said.
“We didn’t get to this level because we stayed down when we lost. The comments are not getting to me at all. We’ve all learned from our mistakes, and moving forward, by the grace of Almighty God, we’ll try our best to make sure we make things right.”
Citing Argentina’s 2022 World Cup victory as an example of a team that recovered from a poor start in tournaments, she said: “In the 2022 World Cup, Argentina lost their first game against Saudi Arabia, and at the end of the tournament, they won.
“Losing against Malawi doesn’t make us a bad team. We are just focusing on the next game.”
On his part, Madugu pushed back against criticisms about his team’s selection and claims that he played players out of position, saying the decision was purely based on training evaluations.
“They are questioning my tactics or technical ability because we lost a game yesterday (Tuesday). But that was not the first game I have handled for the Super Falcons,” the Adamawa-born coach said. “It is what we see you do in training that shows your level of preparedness. You don’t come with a mindset that a specific person is just going to play—it doesn’t work that way.”
“When things go well, nobody questions it. Now that it went wrong, questions will certainly be asked. I take responsibility for all that, and I hope to do better in the next game,” he said.
The 2026 WAFCON is the qualification tournament for the 2027 Women’s World Cup. The top four nations will get an automatic ticket to the tournament. Having lost a game, pressure is also mounting on the Super Falcons, especially after the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
However, Madugu says he understands what is at stake.
“All of us are fully aware of the consequences of not winning our games and the importance of this particular edition because it gives you the opportunity of playing at the World Cup,” he said. “We still have our fate in our hands, and we’ll do everything possible to make sure that we don’t have a repeat of what happened with the men’s team.”
Ahead of the Zambian game, Madugu said the Super Falcons’ objective is clear.
“It’s an outright win or nothing for us,” he said. “We are not taking them for granted by any means.”