[Women’s World Cup] “Sharing a bed”… Nigerian player criticized for ‘lack of support’
“There are a lot of rocks, so the ground condition is so bad that you don’t know where the ball will bounce”
“Nigeria doesn’t get the same support as England. Neither the training ground nor the beds are great. Sometimes you have to share a bed.”
British Daily Guardian
According to the British daily Guardian, Nigerian women’s soccer team striker Ifeoma Onumonu (New Jersey Gotham FC) said this right after the 2023 FIFA World Cup round of 16 on the 7th.
In the Round of 16 match against England at the Brisbane Stadium in Australia that day,
Nigeria was unable to decide the match by 0-0 for 120 minutes.
They lost 2-4 in the ensuing penalty shootout and failed to advance to the quarterfinals. 바카라사이트
At the moment when the final whistle blew and most of the players couldn’t hide their frustration, Onumonu openly criticized their country’s ‘lack of support’ through the media.
“The players need to get back in shape, but there is a lack of support.
Going to the gym is difficult at the Nigeria national team camp,
” Onumonu said. “There is a lot of work to do. I hope people talk about this.”
“It is difficult to solve the problem at this moment.
I want to play for my country, so I do what I can (even in this situation),” he said, “I hope the environment will be better so that I can do my best.”
“(Nigeria’s) ground is rocky, so you don’t know where the ball will bounce.
Everyone will be surprised when they see the stadium we used,” he said.
Nigeria, ranked 40th in the FIFA rankings, surprised the world by advancing to the round of 16 by finishing second in Group B, beating Canada, the winner of the Tokyo Olympics.
Players expressed their intention to ‘boycott’ because of the lack of support.
Coach Rand
Coach Rand Waldrum appeared on a podcast on the 6th of last month and said,
“About 3 weeks ago, 14 months’ salary was overdue. Among them,
7 months’ worth was received.” There are players,” he said.
Result
As a result, infighting was revealed, such as Ademola Olizire, head of public relations at the Football Association, criticizing manager Wildrum as ‘the worst Nigerian manager ever’.
The issue of treatment has also been raised in Jamaica and South Africa.
South African players, ranked 54th in the FIFA rankings, objected to the association over the distribution of World Cup prize money, and had a strong ‘boycott’ of the warm-up match with Botswana early last month.
Jamaican players ranked 43rd in June also criticized their association,
Saying that they did not receive their game allowances on time and that their support was poor.
The mother of midfielder Habana Solon, who was worried that the association would not be able to even raise funds to participate in the World Cup,
even directly sponsored through her fundraising site ‘Go Fund Me’.
Despite the difficult environment, the three teams succeeded in advancing to the round of 16.
Onumonu
Onumonu pointed out that the counterattack of teams recognized as ‘women’s soccer periphery’, including Nigeria, has begun.
Onumonu said, “We are developing.
A lot of people watch European matches, but not our matches. Several teams, including us, are catching up.
There is no team that guarantees victory unconditionally.”
In fact, Germany, Canada, and Brazil, ranked 2nd, 7th, and 8th in the FIFA rankings as the world’s strongest players, were all eliminated from the group stage.
Onumonu added, “As female players started playing a lot of international matches, there were more teams catching up (with strong players)