‘This calls for serious concern’ - Super Falcons' defensive woes give coach Madugu headache

The Super Falcons' defensive frailties were first exposed in a surprising 3-2 loss to tournament newcomers Malawi. 

They bounced back with a crucial 1-0 victory over Zambia, keeping a clean sheet against a strong Copper Queens side led by Barbara Banda.

However, defensive issues resurfaced in their final group game. While Nigeria delivered a powerful attacking performance to defeat Egypt 6-2 and seal their quarter-final berth.

These results have raised alarms ahead of Nigeria's critical quarter-final clash against Cameroon on Sunday at the Olympic Stadium in Rabat. 

Despite securing a spot in the last eight in Morocco, the ten-time African champions have leaked five goals across their three group stage matches. 

This marks the first time in WAFCON history that Nigeria has conceded so many goals at this stage and gives them the worst defensive record among all quarter-finalists.

Coach Madugu has acknowledged that his team's defensive lapses are a major concern and insists that costly errors must be eliminated before facing Cameroon.

"We have been a team that has been very solid defensively, but of recent, we are conceding very unnecessary goals, which is something that is a bit worrisome," Madugu stated after the win against Egypt.

"The manner with which we are conceding those goals calls for serious concern, and it is something that we will have to address."

"We have to do a lot of work to try and ensure that the girls do not switch off in the course of any game," he added. 

"We have to work more on ourselves, trying to ensure that we minimise the kind of mistakes that we make that result in us conceding goals."