Nigeria’s female national team, Super Falcons coach, Thomas Dennerby is looking beyond next month’s Africa Women Cup of Nations in Ghana, as he has started making plans for international friendlies for the squad.
Although Dennerby stayed modest over his side’s chances of winning AWCON 2018 in Ghana, footballllive.ng gathered he is staying positive that they will qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.
The top three teams at Ghana 2018 will go on to represent Africa at France 2019 and, though Dennerby insists the Falcons did not play well at the last edition of the continental championship that they won in Cameroon two years ago, he is upbeat they will again come tops.
With that target in mind, Dennerby has now taken a projection into his build-up plans for the Mundial, hence his decision to start outlining the array of top-grade matches his side will play before heading to France.
The Swedish tactician said he is hoping for quality preparations for the World Cup and wants some warm-up games for his side, as he says high-profile international friendlies are extremely important for his team.
The 59-year-old tactician, who led the Falcons to a third-place finish at the WAFU Nations Cup in February before steering them to qualify for the 11th AWCON by mauling Gambia 7-0 on aggregate in June, charged Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to approve his build-up programme.
Dennerby recounted how his side were not able to take advantage of previous FIFA windows, which he hopes will not be repeated next year, as he stressed that warm-up games will help his team reach top shape.
He disclosed: “I have a schedule for the team. Now is the time to seal agreements with other countries worldwide for the FIFA international windows. It is extremely important for us to have friendlies.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t use the window, but we still have another window from November 3.
“I’ve been talking to a lot of the teams and they are interested in playing us. We have a lot of teams to play but I don’t have the final say on this; than to present my suggestions.”
