The Super Falcons will go into today’s Paris 2024 women’s football qualifier against the Banyana Banyana of South Africa knowing that anything short of clear victory could see them out of another Olympic Games.
Nigeria has not featured in the Olympics women’s football event since the Beijing 2008 edition of the Games. The girls, who are rated as Africa’s number one team, will meet a South African side also angling to return to the Olympics after missing the Japan 2020 edition.
Although Nigeria is currently better rated in women’s football than South Africa following the Super Falcons’ exploits at the last World Cup hosted by Australia/New Zealand, the Banyana Banyana have had the edge over their opponents in recent times, with the South Africans beating Coach Randy Waldrum’s team the last time they met at the African Women’s Nations Cup in Morocco.
The South Africans appear better prepared than their Nigerian counterparts, whose top striker, AsisatOshoala, only arrived in Abuja yesterday.
Of the players invited by Waldrum for the game, only 22 trained on Tuesday at the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abujaand also on Wednesday morning, but their training session in the evening could not hold due to ‘logistics problems.’
In contrast, South Africa opened their camp on Monday last week and trained up to Saturday before moving to Nigeria on Sunday. The South African embassy in Nigeria arranged for the team’s training sessions in Abuja from Monday until they had their official sessions at the MKO Abiola National Stadium yesterday.
All the South African players have been in Abuja since Sunday, while most of the Nigerian girls arrived on Tuesday, which means that the Banyana Banyana are better acclimatised than the home team.
However, Super Falcons Manager, Waldrum, is not fazed by the odds against his team. He believes that his team would get the right result in Abuja to ease their minds before the return leg of the tie in Pretoria, next week.
He said: “We’re focused on getting to Paris.The girls understand the challenge that’s in front of them. It is time (to qualify for the Olympics after a long time).
“This team is generational, no disrespect to the other teams, the talent and the depth that is coming into the team, which we saw in Australia at the FIFA Women’s World Cup, against some of the best teams in the world.
“We can continue to move on and be a major player on the world stage. This team is special, and we can be one of the best teams in the world.
“South Africa have a very good side; they are defending African champions, and we have to respect them.They have a lot of individual talents in attack, where they are dangerous, and the coach has them very organised, but I have a lot of confidence in my players.”
While South Africa’s first-choice goalkeeper, Andile Dlamini, is not fit for the game, Nigeria’s star defender, Ashleigh Plumptre and Oluwatosin Demehin, are also out of the game due to injury.
The winner of the tie over two legs will qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where they have been zoned into Group C alongside world champions, Spain, Brazil and Japan.
