The African side drew 0-0 in normal time before losing 4-2 in a penalty shoot-out at Suncorp Stadium.

Despite being eliminated, Waldrum was proud of his players and used the opportunity to call on Nigeria to invest more resources in helping their women's national team to develop.

"It's something inside them and their DNA to compete and overcome obstacles because that's what they've done throughout their careers. It's a challenge, a real challenge," he said after the game.

"We know what the top teams have and we aspire to have them, but in the moment we are where we are so it's about maximising each individual talent.

"I just credit the players so much for the effort they put in at this World Cup. You can see the talent is there. I think Nigeria can become a world power and invest in women's football like so many other nations seem to be doing.

"If you saw the national training centre in Morocco you can see that investment is really starting to pay off. South Africa have really upped their investment even though we all feel like we need more. Maybe people outside of Africa are shocked but those in Africa really aren't.

"The teams who are the 'so-called' underdogs are coming in more tactically prepared than the bigger teams. Maybe some teams have underestimated that and all of a sudden found out it wasn't as easy as they thought it would be.

"Hopefully what it's saying to us is that more federations are investing in women's football and we still need to do more."

ALESSANDRO-IZEKOR

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