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| Coach Kadiri Ikhana surrenders |
The head coach of Nigeria's female soccer team, Kadiri Ikhana has apologised to Nigerians for failing to win the AFCON women Championship(2012) trophy and has apologised to Nigerians and resigned for a disappointing outing.
Prior to their third place loss to Cameroon’s Lionesses, the Super
Falcons went into the 2012 edition of the AWC as the defending champions
after lifting the trophy in the previous edition but their chances of
defending the title slipped out of their hands after they lost 1-0 to
2012 host; Banyana Banyana in the semi-final.
And to worsen their predicament, the Falcons finished fourth place making it their worst-ever result at continental level.
In Ikhana's words:
“I resigned because my personal target was to lift the trophy,”
“I let the country down, so I deeply apologize and take full responsibility for the disappointment in Equatorial Guinea.
“This failure informed my decision to quit the stage.”
Ikhana, who was speaking to local media in the capital Abuja, had met
the target set for him in his contract with the Nigeria Football
Federation (NFF) but the 60-year-old felt that was not enough.
The NFF is expected to make an official statement on Ikhana this week.
Kadiri ikhana replaced the former coach; Eucharia Uche, whose
contract was not renewed after last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in
Germany, and he signed a four-year deal in April.
He was charged with reviving the fortunes of the Super Falcons following their failure to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics.
Ikhana set the task of reaching the semi-finals of both the 2012
African Women’s Championship and the 2015 Fifa Women’s World Cup finals
in Canada, as well as qualification for the 2015 All Africa games in
Mozambique and the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
Hosts Equatorial Guinea beat South Africa 4-1 on Sunday to win the African Women’s Championship.
Kadiri Ikhana is on record as the first local coach to win the African Champions League (Enyimba).
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