Nine –time African champions, Nigeria will set up a training camp in the Federal Capital, Abuja as from Monday, as part of preparations for the final round of qualification series for the 12th Women Africa Cup of Nations holding in Morocco in the summer of next year.
Head Coach Randy Waldrum has selected an equal blend of home –based and overseas –based professionals for the camping taking place between 22nd – 30th November, and which is aimed at further improving the bond, affinity and familiarity among the group as well as the curation of tactical and technical methods that would work best for the squad in match situations. There are 15 home girls and 15 foreign –based stars.
Leading the home girls are forwards Gift Monday and Vivian Ikechukwu, who scored two goals each during the Aisha Buhari Invitational Tournament in Lagos in September, and there are also goalkeeper Onyinyechukwu Okeke, defender Akudo Ogbonna, midfielder Goodness Onyebuchi and forward Mary-Ann Ezenagu.
Defender Onome Ebi leads the overseas –based crew, alongside midfieder Rasheedat Ajibade, defenders Patricia George and Ashley Plumptre and forward Desire Oparanozie.
The home camping comes few months after a similar camping programme in the Austrian capital, Vienna and towards the end of what has been a busy year for the Falcons, in which they also participated in the Turkish Women’s Cup Tournament, the USWNT Summer Series in the United States of America and the Aisha Buhari Invitational Tournament in Lagos.
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The team has reached the final round of the 12th Women AFCON qualifiers after a 2-1 aggregate defeat of arch rivals Ghana, and will confront another strong West African side, Cote d’Ivoire for a place in Morocco. The final round of qualifiers will hold in February next year, with the first leg taking place in Lagos.
ALL THE INVITED PLAYERS:
Goalkeepers: Onyinyechukwu Okeke (Bayelsa Queens); Ibubeleye Whyte (Rivers Angels); Uchenna Chukwu (Nasarawa Amazons)
Defenders: Onome Ebi (Minsk FC, Belarus); Maureen Okpala (Nasarawa Amazons); Patricia George (SC Sand, Germany); Ashley Plumptre (Leicester City, England); Miracle Joseph (Bayelsa Queens); Joy Duru (Nasarawa Amazons); Nicole Payne (West Virginia University, USA); Michelle Alozie (Houston Dash, USA); Glory Edet (Bayelsa Queens); Akudo Ogbonna (Edo Queens)
Midfielders: Adekite Dada (Watford FC, England); Peace Efih (Kiryat Gat, Israel); Yetunde Aluko (WFC Ramat Hasharon, Israel); Amanda Mbadinuju (Bayelsa Queens); Goodness Onyebuchi (Edo Queens); Grace Igboamalu (Bayelsa Queens); Toni Oyedupe Payne (Sevilla FC, Spain); Regina Otu (Minsk FC, Belarus); Christy Ucheibe (Minsk FC, Belarus)
Forwards: Rasheedat Ajibade (Atletico Madrid, Spain); Esther Okoronkwo (AS Saint Etienne, France); Mary-Ann Ezenagu (Rivers Angels); Desire Oparanozie (Dijon FC, France); Vivian Ikechukwu (Rivers Angels); Gift Monday (FC Robo); Juliet Bassey (Bayelsa Queens); Chinonyerem Macleans (Gonirk Leczna (Poland)
6 Comments
The Super Falcons home games should be shifted to Moshood Abiola stadium,Abuja.The Youth,Sports and development Minister was quoted by local media as saying that the capital city stadium has been refurbished and said all our national teams will be using the stadium.He they can shift to Lagos stadium when it has been rehabilitated. He said it’s time our teams start using one venue to get used to the pitch.
This is great news for the Falcons. With this training camp in Abuja, we should be able to get a new squad that will replace the tired legs.
Any player not invited for this camping should just forget about the national team. We have had enough of some of those not invited.
Playing for big clubs but when you come to super Falcon, you can’t play well to to justify the club you play for.
I want to use this medium to thank all those that have been filtered away from the team for all the services then rendered when they had the opportunity.
Also, for those invited for the camping, this is an opportunity to serve your father land. Take advantage of it.
As for NFF, bravo, at least, for the first time, you are making a good move for both the male and female national teams.
Our national teams are great assets to every Nigerian and therefore should not be taken for granted.
I also want to say here that, if we are getting a new coach to replace Rohr, kindly go for the best, not some carpenter parading themselves as coach.
Imagine if former Super Eagles coach Rohr was doing this to the home based team alone.
Good development.
Well done NFF.
Nigeria shall be great again.
God bless Nigeria.
No place for Onyiyechi Zogg?? I really like her..
Good seeing the Teams coming back to Abuja..
God Bless Nigeria
There’s a player of Cote D’Ivoire with a questionable gender, who also participated at the inaugural CAF Women’s Champions League.
The super Falcons need to put all hands on deck to ensure we don’t lose top position in Africa to south Africa. We just saw how Mamelodi Sundowns Female team won the female champions league. They have started building a team to add to that of Banyana Banyana.