The Super Falcons of Nigeria are set to take on the South African Female National Team, in a dicey Olympics qualifier scheduled for April 5th at the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja.
The head coach of the team, Randy Waldrum has stated his ambition to take Nigeria to the Olympics for the first time since the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
Waldrum who led the team to a record impressive run at the 2023 Female World Cup in Australia, is taking no chances with the South Africans. He has invited one of the strongest squads ever to face the South Africans.
The Nigerian Football Federation released a full list of invited players and it included star striker, Asisat Oshoala, Chiamaka Nnadozie and Ashley Plumptre.
The Super Falcons would need to be at their best because the South Africans, current African Champions would be eager to show why they are the best in Africa.
Nigeria got to this last stage after beating Cameroon 1-0 on aggregate in the last Olympic Qualifier in January, 2024.
The qualifying games will be over two legs with the second leg coming up in Pretoria, South Africa on April 9th, 2024.
The winner of the two legs will collect the Olympic ticket which is one of the two tickets reserved for African teams.
Zambia and Morrocco will also slug it out on same dates for the second African ticket.
The Olympic games will be hosted by Paris, France in July and August, 2024.
Here is the full list of invited players:
Goalkeepers: Chiamaka Nnadozie (Paris FC); Tochukwu Oluehi (Shualat Alsharqia FC, Saudi Arabia); Linda Jiwuaku (Bayelsa Queens)
Defenders: Osinachi Ohale (Pachucha Club de Futbol, Mexico); *Ashleigh Plumptre (Ittihad Ladies, Saudi Arabia); Shukurat Oladipo (FC Robo Queens); 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); Rasheedat Ajibade (Atletico Madrid FC, Spain); Toni Payne (Sevilla FC, Spain)
The list will now be modified to exclude Ashleigh Plumptre, who picked up an injury in training over the weekend. She will now be replaced by Jumoke Alani.
