There’s still much to play for against Ireland – Waldrum

<p>Super Falcons coach Randy Waldrum tells ‘TANA AIYEJINA about his team’s resurgence against Australia and today’s crucial clash against the Irish, which will determine his side’s fate, in this interview</p>, <p>Congrats on your team’s victory over co-hosts Australia. What does this win mean for you and the team?</p>, <p>The win against Australia is a huge win for this team, considering they are in the top five in the world and host nation. But the most important thing is that it gets us one step closer to getting out of our group and that’s where we hope to be.</p>, <p>How was the team able to respond so quickly to Australia’s opener with Uchenna Kanu’s equaliser?</p>, <p>I think the response to the Australia opener was huge for us. They scored five minutes before halftime and you know that is demoralising, but I think the players just stayed focused and continued to believe in themselves and that goal was huge. Toni Payne with her run out of the midfield with the ball, then playing it to Rasheedat Ajibade and then the goal. Actually, it was what turned the game around for us because we came out of the locker room with a completely different mindset at that point.</p>, <p>Would you say this is your greatest win so far as a coach?</p>, <p>Obviously, it’s probably one of the biggest wins that we have had since I’ve been with the Super Falcons. We have had some good wins and played some good competitions, but to do it at this stage against Australia with a FIFA world ranking higher than ours is a great result. Also, the game against Canada was very good as well. Both of these matches, I would say, are the greatest moments for me as a coach and for this team.</p>, <p>What did you tell the girls that spurred them on in the second half?</p>, <p>We had to clean up a little bit of some things happening tactically in the midfield. We were giving too much room in the middle, so, we had to sort that and also defensively. But I felt like we could go after them a little bit more offensively and create more than we did: just