Super Falcons learned ‘good lessons’ in Cyprus -Dennerby

Despite finishing in 7th position after two wins and two defeats at the just-concluded Cyprus Women’s Cup, Super Falcons coach, Thomas Dennerby says the team learned good lessons.

The Nigerian women kicked off their campaign with a 4-1 thrashing to Austria before bouncing back with a 4-3 victory over Slovakia, and then rounding up the group stage with a 1-0 loss to Belgium.

Falcons failed to advance to the next stage, but won the 7th place playoff against Thailand, winning 3-0 against the Asians.

“I am happy that we were able to come here and participate,” said Dennerby, who led the team to their 9th Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) title last December.

“We lost to Austria but we recovered well against Slovakia, and if we had put away the chances we had after scoring our third goal, there would have been no way for them to equalise. A good thing that we won in the end.

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“The lessons are good for the team, just like we also learnt a lot at the tournament in China.”

The Falcons, who earlier played in a four-team tourney in China where they finished 3rd, are participating in several competitions in preparation for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup billed to hold in France.

Nigeria have been eliminated in the group stage at the last four FIFA tournaments.

But Dennerby believes his team’s preparations so far will positively help them when they compete in Group A against hosts France, Norway and South Korea.

“We learned a lot of lessons in China and Cyprus that will positively help us do better in France.

“It was a great opportunity for us to know where we are, our biggest strength, where we can be and what we have to fix.”

The FIFA Women’s World Cup holds between June 7th and July 7th.

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