Nigeria’s Senior Women National Team, Super Falcons, have settled down in the city Le Mans, west of France after arriving on Wednesday evening.
Head Coach Thomas Dennerby, who had been in France three days before the contingent landed, welcomed the players and officials to the Mercure Le Mans Centre hotel in the company of his assistant, Jorgen Petersson.
Pierre Vincent, a coach in
Le mans who witnessed the Super Falcons’ first training session in his assessment of the Nigerian squad opened up to FCNaija.com exclusively on his observations ahead of Friday’s international friendly against Les Bleues of France.
“I got a chance to watch your female national team train for the first time today at Stade MMarena and just wanted to note my observations as I watched the entire session. The team was very impressive and sharp at practice as a whole. I was chatting with one of your country officials at the stadium who told me the names of some of the players- standout performers at the training were Francisca Ordega who is very pacy,
worked the flanks very well and (I think she will be a problem at the game).
“
Ordega was a handful to defenders during the training session. Desire Oparanozie looked very sharp and good as well. I’ve seen her play here in France and wasn’t surprised- I would be surprised if she doesn’t present
danger to France on Friday. Has a very hard shot and is very confident on the ball.
“Another player that impressed me was Sophia Omidiji- clearly one of the most technical on the team- very good on the ball, good awareness- can read the game very well but also very physically strong as she won many duels it was difficult to
disposes her) despite her size and was extremely fast.
“Another player that I was impressed with was Ngozi Okobi whose looked very assured defensively and won many possessions and was able to bring the ball up when necessary – also made a lot of saving clearances. There were a few scouts at the training that were
impressed with her defensive assuredness.
“Okobi also had great communications skills which
is
necessary for defenders. She organized the other defenders very well. I learned Okobi plays in Sweden from one of the scouts from England who looked interested in her.
“Those were the standout performers at the training session but the whole team looked sharp an there seems to be unity as they shared some laughs during the session which is important for cohesion.” said the French coach.
All 18 players, including Holland-based Sophia Omotola Omidiji, a late call-up, had a light work out at the Le Clos Fleuri ground at
10am and later followed with a tougher session in the evening at the Le Mans Stadium, also known as the Stade MMArena.
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