Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Guardian Nigeria
Published on 2024-02-21 04:05:14
Nigeria’s Coach Randy Waldrum, who steered the Super Falcons to the second round of the 2023 Women’s World Cup in New Zealand/Australia, is set to lead the team as they face the penultimate round of qualifiers for the women’s football event at the Paris 2024 Olympics. The Nigerian delegation will depart for Douala this evening to continue preparations for the first leg of the qualifying tie, which will take place on Friday in the Cameroonian city.
According to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), all the players invited for the tie had arrived in the team’s Abuja camp as of yesterday afternoon, with the exception of midfielder Tony Payne and forward Uchenna Kanu, who were expected to join the team last night. Coach Randy Waldrum has selected 21 players who will all make the trip to Douala, and then fly to Abuja on Sunday morning for the return leg against the Lionesses, which will be held at the MKO Abiola National Stadium on Monday evening.
The NFF stated that Waldrum and his assistants would lead the full squad in a training session at the main bowl of the MKO Abiola National Stadium this evening before the delegation’s departure to Douala. The team will then have the official training at the Stade de la Reunification in Douala tomorrow evening.
A win over Cameroon in the two legs of the tie would bring Nigeria closer to its first Olympic women’s football appearance in 16 years. The Super Falcons last participated at the Women’s Olympic football event in China in 2008, when they lost to the Democratic Republic of Korea, Germany, and Brazil to crash out at the group stage. In the London 2012 edition, Cameroon stopped Nigeria from qualifying through the penalty shootout lottery after the qualifying tie ended in a stalemate. Equatorial Guinea thwarted their journey to Rio in 2016, and Cote d’Ivoire stopped the Falcons in the race to a place in Tokyo on the away goals rule.
After eliminating Ethiopia in the second round of the series, the Super Falcons now need to overcome the Cameroonian hurdle to reach the final round of the African qualification series and then be prepared for whatever opposition appears at that stage in two months’ time.
