PARIS OLYMPIC GAMES
Head Coach Randy Waldrum has snubbed Onome Ebi, picked captain Rasheedat Ajibade, goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie, defender Osinachi Ohale, forward Asisat Oshoala, and 14 other players in his final list of Nigeria’s Super Falcons for this year’s Women’s Olympic Football Tournament in France.
Persecondnews reports that the final list also includes defenders Oluwatosin Demehin and Michelle Alozie, midfielders Deborah Abiodun, Halimatu Ayinde, Christy Ucheibe, and Toni Payne, and forwards Esther Okoronkwo, Chinwendu Ihezuo, and Uchenna Kanu.
The NFF Communications Department announced on Wednesday that squad members currently on holiday in Nigeria will join home-based players and team officials on an Air France flight from Abuja to Sevilla, Spain, on Thursday night.
The rest of the playing body and technical team will arrive in Sevilla on Friday for a two-week training camp.
On Thursday, July 18, the team will leave Sevilla for France.
For the first time since 2008 in China, nine-time African champions Nigeria will compete in the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament, facing Brazil, Spain, and Japan in that order.
The Super Falcons edged South Africa’s Banyana Banyana 1-0 with a strike from the penalty spot in Abuja by Ajibade to book a spot at this year’s Olympic event.
Their first game, against Brazil, comes up at the Stade Bordeaux on July 25, before confrontations with Spain (28th July) and Japan (31st July). The matches against Spain and Japan will hold at the Stade de la Beaujoire in Nantes, where the Super Eagles famously defeated tournament favourites Spain 3-2 in a memorable game at the 1998 FIFA World Cup finals.
Waldrum snubbed 41-year-old Ebi after her Instagram live session, where she alleged that the Super Falcons head coach was being prevailed on to include her in the list of players for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and she called out the Falcons’ head coach to deny the allegation.
She said in a sane clime that she would be honoured with a place in the Paris 2024-bound Falcons’ team to celebrate her and end her national team’s career in style.
She said: “I heard the NFF is begging him to include me in the Olympic squad. Let Randy come out live and come and defend what I have said.
“Martha, that is going to the Olympics; is it not to honour her?” Ebi asked rhetorically.
“At the Olympics, she is going; she would be honoured each time she is asked to come on or go out. That is how to honour people and a fitting way to leave the national team, but my country is different.
“Nigerians have been trying to frustrate me out of the national team for years now. If I am included in the team for the Olympics and retire thereafter, didn’t I worth it? I am super proud that I am still actively playing, even at 41.”
SUPER FALCONS FOR PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS:
Goalkeepers: Chiamaka Nnadozie (Paris FC); Tochukwu Oluehi (Shualat Alsharqia FC, Saudi Arabia)
Defenders: Osinachi Ohale (Pachucha Club de Futbol, Mexico); Oluwatosin Demehin (Stade de Reims, France); Michelle Alozie (Houston Dash, USA); Nicole Payne (Portland Thorns FC, USA); Chidinma Okeke (Mynavi Sendai Ladies, Japan)
Midfielders: Deborah Abiodun (University of Pittsburgh, USA); Halimatu Ayinde (FC Rosengard, Sweden); Christy Ucheibe (SL Benfica, Portugal); Jennifer Echegini (Juventus Ladies, Italy); Toni Payne (Sevilla FC, Spain)
Forwards: Rasheedat Ajibade (Atletico Madrid FC, Spain); Esther Okoronkwo (Changchun FC, China); Asisat Oshoala (Bay FC, USA); Uchenna Kanu (Racing Louisville, USA); Chiwendu Ihezuo (Pachucha Club de Futbol, Mexico); Chinonyerem Macleans (Locomotiv Moscow, Russia)
Alternate Players: Jumoke Alani (Nasarawa Amazons); Ifeoma Onumonu (Utah Royals, USA); Gift Monday (Coasta Adeje Tenerife Egatesa, Spain); Morufa Ademola (Rivers Angels)
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