Super Falcons coach apologises after World Cup exit

Super Falcons coach Justine Madugu has said sorry for the team’s failure to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup. He admitted that mistakes in defense and poor finishing led to their disappointing 2-1 loss to South Africa.

Madugu spoke after the Falcons lost to Banyana Banyana in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) playoff at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco on Thursday.

This loss ended Nigeria’s dreams of reaching the 2027 World Cup and stopped their amazing record of qualifying for every edition of the tournament.

“I have to apologise to Nigerians over our inability to make it to the World Cup. We are very sorry. It was not our intention.

“We came, did the best that we could, but our best was not good enough.

“And we’re very sorry for that, and we take full responsibility for everything that happened. There can always be a next time. I’m sorry,” Madugu said.

The Super Falcons had already missed an automatic World Cup spot after losing 1-0 to Cameroon in the quarter-finals. They still had another chance in the continental playoff.

But South Africa took advantage of Nigeria’s mistakes to get a vital win.

Thembi Kgatlana scored the first goal in the 56th minute. Banyana Banyana captain Refiloe Jane then scored again in the 77th minute to make it 2-0.

Nigeria managed to get one goal back in stoppage time when Christy Ucheibe converted a penalty after a VAR review showed a foul, which led to Jane being shown a red card.

Even with this late goal, Nigeria could not find an equaliser as South Africa held on to secure their spot in the intercontinental playoff tournament.

Madugu acknowledged that the Falcons had enough chances to change the game but could not take them.

“We had chances. Still, the conversion was another problem. And we made some little errors at the back. They capitalised on that, and they got the goals that they also got,” he said.

The coach pointed out individual mistakes and poor choices as reasons for the goals Nigeria conceded.

“It is something that we really regret and feel very sorry about because it was more of individual errors in terms of decision-making that accounted for what actually happened.

“Of course, we will say we have a goal-scoring problem because we have not been clinical in front of the goal. We have not been clinical. We create several chances, but we are very wasteful with the opportunities that always come our way.

“If we were very clinical in front of goal, I mean, we would have been scoring a lot of goals,” Madugu said.

According to the coach, Nigeria had enough chances in the first half to finish the game against South Africa but failed to score.

“So, we have to blame ourselves for it. We have to blame ourselves for not taking the chances that keep coming our way. This was a game we would have finished in the first half based on the opportunities that we had, but we couldn’t utilise them,” Madugu said.

He also compared the finishing skills of both teams, saying South Africa was better when it came to taking chances.

“In the second half, we still got chances. How many chances did South Africa get? But because they were more clinical, they converted the chances that came their way. Today, they are the ones who won the match.”

This defeat means the Super Falcons will miss the Women’s World Cup for the first time since it started in 1991.

South Africa, on the other hand, moves on to the intercontinental playoff tournament, where they will try again to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.