Coach Chris Danjuma: How Come Nigeria Lost to Japan?

Nigeria crashed out of the U-20 Women's World Cup after the round of 16 2:1 loss to Japan on Friday morning.

As expected from a large body of Falconets fans, Head Coach Chris Danjuma performed poorly in yet again another U-20 Women's World Cup by failing to reach the semi-finals for the third time of asking.

I disagree vehemently with fans who commented that this team was mediocre. That is simply not true.

Did you guys watch the match?

Japan at this level are undeniably  world class, fair and simple. The fact that Danjuma's ladies reduced the deficit and put Japan on the back foot for the remainder of the game showed what these Falconets could have produced under a more astute coach.

Danjuma is not astute. He is not technically suss, savvy, sapient or shrewd. He lacks the tactical nuance to raise the profile of these ladies' game to match high calibre oppostions.

I still remember vividly this same Danjuma losing to back-to-back finals to Ghana in the last 2 years, this same Ghana that Japan walloped 4:1. If Danjuma couldn't fashion a way to win WAFU and All Africa Games finals against this poor Ghana, what hope did we have against Japan?

I maintain, these ladies are good enough. I punished myself to wake up to watch this game but I was semi-conscious for most of the first half in fairness.

Still, all I saw were the Falconets trying to match Japan's explosive, blitzkrieg brand of football with quick interplay of passes and rapid incursions into dangerous Nigerian territory. Didn't Danjuma know that, that was a kamikaze approach from Nigeria? It was simply suicidal. You can't go toe-to-toe with this Japan and prevail. Perhaps a more guerrilla approach to sit back, soak pressure and counter with the breakneck speed of Chiamaka and Sebastian would have done the trick (a bit of smash and grab).

Whereas Japan's quick passes got them into delicate Nigerian areas to eventually score their goals , most of Nigeria's quick long balls into Japan's area landed in harmless territory, only always giving initiative back to Japan.

As observed, Danjuma failed woefully to get the best out of our midfielders on the night as Nigeria's midfield was overrun. The services to our danger women Sebastian and Chiamaka were woeful. Our defense were overloaded from the flanks and the centre defense were strewn with lethal Japanese bodies seeking to cause damage. As early as 15 minutes, our centre defenders and goalkeeper had made match saving interceptions.

And what was Danjuma doing?

Anyway, for this level, a number of the Falconets players are decent . As their coach offered nothing different or transformative , they tried to match Japan's surprise-speed-and-superior firepower approach with quick passes straight from defence to attack and to halt Japan's advance with last ditch tackles which kept Nigeria in the game long enough to even score 1 goal.

But ultimately Nigeria's passing routines were not as polished, precise or penetrative enough which gave Japan the edge on the night.

Well done to the ladies who played to the instructions and directions of a coach who only knows how to reach the second round of World Cups, no more no less.