Legendary Banyana Banyana forward Portia Modise has berated the Super Falcons of Nigeria for its reliance on old players, which she attributed for their semi-final defeat to Morocco at the ongoing WAFCON.
The Falcons were reduced to nine players following the sending off of Rasheedat Ajibade and Halimotu Ayinde in Monday’s semi-final with Morocco.
However, the nine-time African champions held Morocco to a 1-1 draw and forced the game to penalty shootout which the North Africans won 5-4.
Modise, 39, who featured for Banyana Banyana from 2000 to 2015 and scored 101 goals in 125 games, posited that the Falcons have lost their winning edge because they keep fielding many aged players that ought to have retired.
“One thing that I see in the Nigerian team is that they don’t want to let go of the senior players. They need to give the young players an opportunity. Experience alone is not going to work,”Modise was quoted by soccernet at a media event organized by FIFA ahead of the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
“I see players that I used to play against, but now I am retired, they are still there. We need to give a chance to the young kids and young generation that are coming.”
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Modise expressed delight that the Falcons did not qualify for this year’s WAFCON final.
“I am so happy that Nigeria is not part of the final. They have been dominating us for so many years.
“But it gives them an opportunity to go back home, to go back to the drawing board and see how to come back with a winning mentality.”
Modise also thinks that the increase in World Cup slots to four for Africa means that more teams get to play on the big stage to help develop women’s football on the continent.
“The game is changing in the minds of a lot of people. It is now left to sponsors that need to take the risk and say they want to grow the women’s game.”
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