Kanu – Nkwocha I Toke No 4 jersey to emulate

, Nkwocha, Africa’s most decorated female footballer was a sprinter that featured in the 100 and 200 metres events for her school. The track sport actually help her when she needs to beat the opponents’ defensive walls in football.
“I had to play against boys when I was a kid even though I sustained injuries and had to nurse my ankles on several occasions after tackles from them,” she recollected.
Her parents had no choice but to give their blessings when she opted to play football professionally after seeing her passion and courage in the sport. She quickly joined Nkwerre Tigress even while she was in secondary school in the early ’90s.I remember that I had to travel a long distance from Umuhu to attend training at Nkwerre, but I was happy that my coach, Peter Uchegbulam, often gave me transport and that further encouraged me to keep trying,” she said.
Nkwocha’s first breakthrough came at the Ngor Okpala Schools Competition in 1995 in which she was selected in the team for the Owerri Female Cup where Rivers Angels Chairman, Larry Eze, spotted her. Since then, she has moved from one big club to another, both in Nigeria and abroad.

Nkwocha, Isnow plays for Sunnana SK of Sweden, would have loved to win the Women’s World Cup before calling it quits in football but she is not belittling her achievement in Africa, especially after winning the African Women Footballer of the year the fourth time.
We have not retired from football at any level. I don’t know why it was reported that I’ve retired from international football but I guess the reporters misunderstood what I said.
During the 2011 Women’s World Cup in Germany, I set the London 2012 Olympics as my target. I planned to retire after the games, but when Nigeria failed to qualify, I had to change my plan.
The Olympics is a big event so I thought I could bow out on a high. My target has now shifted to having another African title in 2012 at the African Women’s Championship; after that, I can retire from the national team.
The former Pelican Stars forward said her individual achievement has further strengthened the Super Falcons rather than creating unhealthy rivalry in the team; she attributed her goal-scoring feat to team work.
“I don’t think my achievement has brought any ill-feelings to the team; in fact, it has bonded us even stronger. Maybe my teammates would have confronted me with their feelings and told me what I was doing wrong if there was any problem,” she said.
“In some games where I scored about two or three goals, some other players in the team would also be on target. It wasn’t that I was the only one scoring.”
But why has she stuck to the No. 4 jersey in the Falcons even though her admirers see her as a female version of Super Eagles legend Rashidi Yekini?
On the Falcons, she said, “The team have much younger players currently; that’s good for us. But initially there was a mistake in the team when they pushed the older players out of the team almost suddenly. I believe the older players could have inspired the younger ones before leaving the team – had they played together. That is the major problem in the Falcons. If you look at the team, there are only three experienced players – Precious Dede, Stella Mbachu and I. The team will definitely get better but it will take them some time to blend the way a good coach would want.
“It’s true I impressed when I newly joined the Falcons, but that was because I played alongside Florence Omagbemi and Eucharia Uche. The team had more experienced players we could learn from.“I feel so bad that Nigeria missed out on the 2012 Olympics and the All-Africa Games, and I’ve yet to recover from the shock. I had thought the London games would be my last national assignment but unfortunately we’re going to watch it on television.
“I feel even sorrier for my teammates who have not been at that level before. Some of them may have quit football before another opportunity comes up in four years.

“I think we lost the ticket to the All-Africa Games when we conceded an own-goal at home against Ghana. If we had won 2-0 at home, and gone to Accra to lose 2-1, we would have qualified. It wasn’t the fault of the Nigeria Football Federation in any way; we simply lost our chance to hold on to our advantages.”
Nigeria’s loss at the qualifiers led to coach Eucharia Uche’s sack by the NFF but Nkwocha believes the coach could have done better handling a junior team before taking up the challenge of the Falcons.
She said, “When coach Samson Siasia failed to qualify the team for the 2012 Nations Cup, the NFF relieved him of the job. I believe Nigerians would have cried foul if Eucharia was left in the post after failing to have the tickets to the All-Africa Games and the Olympics. I think, however, that she could have started from the youth level, coaching the U-17 and the U-20 teams in order to garner experience.
She added, “I don’t know why Falcons have not been able to dominate the world after conquering Africa. Many of us have asked that question and we can’t come up with an answer. But I think it has to do with our pattern of play. We have to change our formation and leave the old format we’re used to. We tried a new formation introduced by the German technical assistant at the World Cup last year and it worked for us. The two games we lost were by lone goals; that proved the new formation tightened the defence, unlike before.”Super Falcons striker and four-time African Women Footballer of the Year, Perpetua Nkwocha, was recently honoured in Imo State for her achievement. She tells KAZEEM BUSARI what problems have hindered the development of women’s football in Nigeria