Self-belief saw us through to knockout round, Falcons’ coach Waldrum says

Super Falcons’ coach Randy Waldrum has said that his team’s self-belief saw them through to the knockout round of the ongoing FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Falcons, after a 0-0 draw with Republic of Ireland, qualified for the competition’s knockout phase for the third time.

Waldrum told reporters after the match that his team was resilient and never gave up, in spite of all the challenges they faced on the way to achieving their World Cup dreams.

“Two years ago when we started this journey, so many things went well, while some others didn’t go well.

“The team never gave up but continued to believe.

“I don’t think anybody (before we got here) believed that we could get out of this group and to go through without losing a match.

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“I am so proud of the team and the efforts they’ve put in. I am so happy that they are gaining the experiences and they move on to the next round,” he said.

He, however, expressed mixed feelings at the result of the match, saying that even though he felt the Super Falcons deserved to win, the thought of qualifying to the knockout stages was gratifying.

“Actually, in the second half, I was disappointed because I felt we could have won the match.

“So, it almost feels disappointing that we didn’t get all three points but all of us would have taken this result before we started the match, just to know we got through.

“That was the objective, we getting to the knock out stages,” he said.

On the prospect of facing either England or Demark in the Round of 16, the coach said he was not bothered about any of the opponents.

“I think, either way, we are going to be facing another great team; if it’s England, the European champions or whoever, it doesn’t matter.

“We’ve already played the Olympic champions as well as the co-host nation.

“So it’s just going to be another one of those matches that we’ve already been playing,” he said.