Waldrum explains why Oshoala was ignored against South Africa

Super Falcons striker, Asisat Oshoala.

Head coach of the Super Falcons, Randy Waldrum, has stated reasons female African footballer of the year and Bay FC of United States striker, Asissat Oshoala, didn’t feature in Friday’s Olympic qualifier against the Banyana Banyana of South Africa in Abuja.

The Super Falcons secured a slim victory over the South Africans courtesy of Rasheedat Ajibade’s 43rd minute penalty goal.

However, when speaking during the post match conference, Waldrum said he didn’t feature Oshoala because she got to camp late and was suffering from jet lag.


He added that he would assess her fitness level to be able to decide if Oshoala is going to feature in the reverse match slated for Tuesday in Pretoria, South Africa.

“Asisat just arrived camp and obviously and visibly she looks tired from the long travels she had, this explains why I didn’t feature her in the game.

“I will access her fitness level to be able to decide if she will feature in the reverse fixture next week in South Africa,” he said.

Waldrum stated it was unfortunate that the Super Falcons failed to score more than a goal in the match they dominated defensively.

“I thought we were a bit unfortunate not to have at least two or three goals victory tonight but I think the team played well.

“I thought we were good defensively considering we had some new players at the back as we missed players like Ashleigh Plumptre and Tosin Demehim.

“I think the back four stood very strong. I can only remember two good opportunities that they (South Africa) had.

“Overall I thought we could have controlled the game well, try to finish up with the opportunities we had.

“But the bottom line is, we have one game left and we have to get the result,” Waldrum said.

Tuesday’s return leg at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria is still so much to play for with the Falcons hoping to make it back to the Olympics Games after missing three editions at London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

While the Banyana Banyana flew back to Johannesburg yesterday morning, the Super Falcons are expected to jet out of Lagos this night.

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