Super Falcons head coach Justine Madugu unveiled his final 24-woman squad for the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations last Friday. Madugu included 11 debutants, including three home-based players.
The gaffer will also be heading to Morocco with 13 players who were part of the squad that reached the WAFCON 2022 finals.
The 61-year-old has come under criticism for leaving out a number of in-form and regular players from the team.
In this piece, Completesports.com’s ADEBOYE ADEBOYE discusses the notable absentees from the squad.
Gift Monday (Washington Spirit)
The Washington Spirit striker will miss her second consecutive major competition for Nigeria, having also been excluded from the squad for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Monday’s omission has sparked outrage due to her impressive performances since joining Washington Spirit from Spanish club UD Tenerife in March.
The 23-year-old has recorded four goals and one assist in 10 league appearances for Spirit. She scored 10 times for Tenerife before making the move to the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).
Edna Imade (Granada)
The forward was the second-highest goalscorer in the Spanish Liga F last season with 16 goals. She was also named Player of the Month in December.
Imade, who was born in Morocco to Nigerian parents, has long expressed a desire to represent the Super Falcons in a major tournament.
Her exclusion is regarded as one of the biggest surprises in Madugu’s selection.
Read Also:WAFCON 2024: Madugu Upbeat Super Falcons Can Reclaim Title In Morocco
Joy Omewa (Fortuna Hjørring)
The former Flamingos and Falconets striker stood out with her stellar performances for Danish club Fortuna Hjørring in the 2024/25 season.
Omewa scored 22 goals in 23 league outings to help Fortuna Hjørring clinch the Danish Women’s League title. She was rewarded with a Mercedes-Benz for winning the top scorer award.
The club also secured the Danish Cup title.
Bolaji Olamide (Remo Stars Ladies)
Bolaji Olamide finished as top scorer in the Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) last season with 15 goals in 19 appearances.
The young striker made her debut for the Super Falcons in a friendly against the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon earlier this month.
However, she was not deemed good enough for inclusion in the final squad by Justine Madugu.
Rofiat Imuran (London City Lionesses)
The 21-year-old came into the limelight during her time with the Falconets and was part of the Super Falcons’ squad to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
Despite her impressive performances both for Nigeria and at club level, Madugu opted to select AS Roma’s Shukurat Oladipo and Edo Queens’ Miracle Usani ahead of her.
Read Also:Friendly: Nnadozie Shines As Super Falcons, Portugal Settle For 0-0 Draw
Uchenna Kanu (Racing Louisville)
One of the most consistent performers for the Super Falcons in recent years, the 28-year-old has scored 20 goals in 31 appearances for Nigeria.
She has netted one goal in five league matches for her club this season.
Nicole Payne (Portland Thorns FC)
Nicole Payne has been in fine form for NWSL side Portland Thorns this season.
The versatile full-back was part of the Super Falcons squad for the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, where she made two appearances. She was also named in the squad for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
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“We carried out a detailed analysis across all positions—assessing strengths, weaknesses, and flexibility. It’s not just Gift; there were others we would have loved to include, too.”
Madugu would still have to explain the sort of detailed analyses he carried out that saw proven regulars like Gift Monday and Uchenna Kanu, and outstanding top performers like Edna Imade, Joy Omenwa, dropped for a collegiate rookie, an international greenhorn and a down-the-hill veteran
Seven Players Conspicuous By Their Absence in the Super Falcons Afcon Squad
The Super Falcons are set to kick off their quest to reclaim the Wafcon crown in a couple of weeks’ time, hoping to do so without a number of players who would have been sure-bets to participate in the hostilities.
Coach Magudu has come under a heavy artillery of criticisms for these omissions, but, truth be told, no Super Falcons coach in history has been spared such bombs of condemnation.
Names of seven such absentees have been floating around; I take a look to see what might have led to their exclusions, and if indeed any would have added value to this Super Flacons outfit.
1. Gift Monday: Undoubtedly a proven goal scorer in club football, but in the national team, she has failed to win the trust and confidence of Waldrum and Madugu. Is it her style of play, attitude on and off the pitch, or her face just doesn’t fit, who knows? I bemoan her absence, but 5 of the strikers selected have earned their spurs in the national team. The other 3 have massive potentials, making it very likely that Monday’s absence might be forgotten when the festivities begin.
2. Edna Imade: For me, Edna is one of those players who will just have to wait for her time. An attacking sensation of repute, her inclusion would still have meant leaving out an established name – it might not seem like it, but the Super Falcons are super blessed with attacking talents. It’s hard to know (for better or worse) how she would have taken to international football in an international tournament, but we will never know, not in this tournament.
3. Joy Omewa: Another tantalising prospect who has fallen victim to the very many options available to the Super Falcons up-front. If truth be told, her hugely successful season in club football nonetheless, it would have surprised me if she had made the cut. But, in truth, nothing surprises me these days about Nigerian football.
4. Bolaji Olamide: Perhaps if she were playing for Nassarawa Amazons, Gombe Godesses, or Adamawa Alhajas, she could have made the squad. Or maybe not. Squeezing in a home-based striker – regardless of the options we have upfront – would have been a master stroke for me, as we have some truly precocious talents in the NWFL.
5. Rofiat Imuran: Upon reflection, from the standpoint of personal opinion, I no longer lose sleep over the exclusion of Rofiat. She hasn’t matured as a left back, and she is atrocious as a left winger (sorry Rofiat, I still love you dearly). She was underwhelming in the last U-20 World Cup, even though she was in one 2 years before. In the Super Falcons, she is quite mediocre.
6. Uchenna Kanu: I will miss her dearly, if nothing but for her staunch professionalism. You never really know what to expect of Kanu; she goes to sleep in matches only to come alive, when you least expect, to produce a moment of magic!
7. Nicole Payne: I would have had no qualms placing a bet that she would be excluded. Unlike her elder sister, Nicole has struggled to create a niche for herself in the national team. Her omissions no longer make headline news these days. When she is in, she puts in a shift; when she’s not, others do just as well, even better!
@deo, Nicole Payne is actually still recovering from her season-long ACL injury suffered in preseason. Forget what this article says about Nicole supposedly being “in fine form this season”, she has not played even a single minute all season.
Meanwhile, Uchenna Kanu has just returned from extended injury absence and still working her way back into the Racing Louisville lineup with late substitute appearances. Accordingly, the glaring omission to me was Gift Monday (in spite of Coach Madugu’s explanation).
Sadly, the inept NFF ignoring FIFA Windows and failing to organize friendly games for the Super Falcons deprived the team of the platform to test out and/or integrate new players into the squad – particularly the likes of Edna Imade and Joy Omewa, even this Chioma Okafor (in addition to the likes of Suliat Abideen, Grace Salisu, Pauline Ali, etc.).
Nigeria seems to have totally forgotten Chinaza Uchendu of Nantes in France. She was in the 2018 winning squad in Ghana.