The coach of the national female U-23 side, Jossy Lad has revealed that the Nigerian side requires more friendlies and exposure to remain the best in Africa and catch up with the rest of the world. The ex- 3SC coach speaking shortly after the U-23 side mixed with some old hands defeated their Algerian counterparts at the Abuja national stadium, disclosed that only a persistent involvement in action can sustain female football in Nigeria.
"We have to keep these girls in action all the time. I require more matches to really knock them into shape and as you can see, the rest of Africa is fast catching up with us".
The ex-international also sounded a word of caution on the nature of international friendlies to be played.
"I mean real quality friendlies. If you bring me Benin Republic to play, I might not really benefit much from it. We need to play more matches to keep us exposed and attain the international standard for our status as Africa's best", he maintained.
On the next round of African qualifiers for the Olympics in 2008,the former Leventis united man, affirmed that all hands would remain on deck.
"The next round of matches comes up in July and by then, we would have been back from the All Africa games so there is ample time for us to think and prepare for that", he concluded.
The Nigerian side walloped Algeria by 6-0 with Perpetua Nkwocha and Ifeanyi Chiejine accounting for a hat-trick and a brace respectively to end the tie 6-1 on aggregate.
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