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Southlake soccer star in New Zealand to watch USWNT
Southlake Carroll's Kennedy Fuller was named the Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player of the Year in 2022-2023. She is now in New Zealand to watch and support the U.S. Women's National Team as they make their way through the World Cup.
BRISBANE, Australia - The women of the Nigerian soccer team beat the odds to advance to the knockout stage of the World Cup on Monday.
The 40th-ranked Super Falcons secured a spot in the round of 16 with an unlikely second-place finish in Group B after a 0-0 draw with Australia.
Irving-born coach Randy Waldrum is getting a lot of credit for the team's success.
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - JULY 27: Randy Waldrum, Head Coach of Nigeria ahead of the FIFA Womens World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 Group B match between Australia and Nigeria at Brisbane Stadium on July 27, 2023 in Brisbane, Australia. (Phot …
Waldrum has been a big figure in Texas soccer world coaching at Austin College and Texas Wesleyan, before founding the Baylor University women's soccer program in 1996.
He also coached the Houston Dash of the National Women's Soccer League from 2014-2017.
Waldrum has been the manager of the Nigerian women's soccer team since 2020. He is also the head coach of the University of Pittsburgh women's soccer team.
The MacArthur High School graduate has drawn heavy criticism during his time in charge of the Nigerian squad for calling out the team's lack of resources and support.
"We still have an upper echelon with teams that have all the resource," Waldrum said. "And then you have other teams that don’t have quite as much."
Nigeria emerged from the group stage with one win and two ties.
"I always felt like we had the talent to do it," Waldrum said. "My biggest thing as the coach of this team was: ‘Do I have enough time to do it?’"
HOUSTON, TX - JUNE 13: Head Coach Randy Waldrum of Nigeria joins his teams pregame huddle prior to the 2021 WNT Summer Series friendly between Nigeria and Portugal at BBVA Stadium on June 13, 2021 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Alex Bierens de Haan/Get …
Waldrum says that the Nigerian team has had less time to prepare than many other nations in the tournament.
"We’ve done all of this with 15 practices," Waldrum said. "I wouldn’t have dreamt that we could do that well, but I think it’s largely due that there’s talent here."
Waldrum and the Nigerian team will play the winner of Group D, which is expected to be England.
"Why not play England?" Waldrum said. "We’ve played the Olympic gold medalists. We’ve played Australia, the host nation. Bring on the European champions. Why not?"
Nigeria will attempt to continue its Cinderella run on Monday.
Brooke Evans from the Associated Press contributed to this article.