By Albert Akota
Former Nigeria international Pascal Patrick says he is expecting a better 2015 for Nigerian football, as the year 2014 gradually draws to a close.
It has been a decent year for Nigerian football as the Super Falcons won a record seventh Africa Women’s championship title in Namibia and also qualified for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The Falconets finished second at the FIFA U20 women’s World Cup in Canada and the Super Eagles qualified and reached the last 16 of the FIFA World Cup in Brazil for the first time in 16 years.
The Flying Eagles and Golden Eaglets also qualified for the Africa Youth Championship and the CAF U17 championship in Senegal and Niger respectively. The Dream Team VI also commenced preparations for the 2015 All Africa Games.
But despite the decent ‘achievements’, the Super Eagles also failed to qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations as African champions. The Flamingos exited the FIFA women’s U17 World Cup at the group stage and the Super Sand Eagles failed to retain their Copa Lagos title.
And Patrick says he hopes Nigeria will have a better footballing year in 2015 than she had in the outgoing year.
“2014 wasn’t a bad year but our failure to qualify for the AFCON maybe is the biggest dent. We qualified for major tournaments next year with our other national teams. But hopefully 2015 will be better,” he said.
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