Some Nigerian players have not been paid for two years!

Nigeria enter the Women’s World Cup with salary disputes still asleep, but the players put their grievances aside to focus on their opener Friday against Canada, coach Randy Waldrum said.

The “Super Hawks” have won their last three friendlies, against New Zealand, Haiti and Costa Rica, but off the pitch they have clashed with the Nigerian Football Association over salary conditions. In a podcast published at the beginning of the month, American Waldrum confirmed that they owe him seven months salary and some of his players have not been paid for two years.

Nigerian media reported that the team is considering the possibility of boycott Australia and New Zealand’s World Cup matches, but Waldrum said none of his players would give up on the squad to face Canada in Melbourne on Friday.

“We’ll be there. All that happened before we came here and I think the team, once we all got here, focused only on Canada“The American told Reuters after training on Wednesday. “We met to discuss it the first night we arrived and at that point we all agreed don’t continue thatdon’t let it go out there and we’re here to do the job,” he added.

Waldrum He did not want to give details about his players’ complaints, but he is not confident they will be resolved before the end of the tournament, from July 20 to August 20. “The truth is I don’t know. Coming from the United States and working in federation, I realized early on things happen at a different pace than one is used to or what we may be used to in our culture,” he said.

Texan Waldrum, former coach of the US team Houston Dash, he praised his players for keeping their minds on the job, in their bid to reach the knockout rounds in one of the toughest groups, which includes hosts Australia and debutants Ireland. “I’ve been happy about it, because this could very easily weigh down and be a burden on the team, but I’ve never seen them let that happen,” he added.

Wage complaints have cast a shadow over the start of the World Cup, with Olympic champions Canada and defending Euro 2022 champions England among a host of teams wanting more from their federations. Other teams lamented the lack of resources to prepare properly, such as Jamaica, whose players went crowdfunding to help cover expenses.

Waldrum said 11-time African Cup of Nations champions Nigeria have a ways to go to reach the knockout stages of the World Cup, but the expectations by local fans that they are at the top of women’s football is unrealistic.

“At some point we have to realize all the things we do on a daily basishow the federation treats the players and how it gives them the resources to train properly, travel and all those issues,” he said.