Heartland Queens Ekezie Onyedikachi handed late call up to U20 women’s national team

Published on: 26 December 2023

Heartland Queens star defender, Ekezie Onyedikachi has been handed a late call up to join the  U20 women’s national team ahead of the FIFA U-20 world cup qualifiers against Burundi, Nigeriasoccernet.com can confirm.

Onyedikachi will be the second Heartland Queens player after Lucky Mary to be called upon to join the Falconets camp ahead of the January fixtures.

Head-coach of the side, coach Christopher Danjuma named his 25 women list ahead of the encounter and has added the Owerri Landladie’s solid rock to the fray.

The bullish and lanky built no nonsense defender has been instrumental to Heartland Queens good run of form lately, which has resulted to Heartland Queens top position on the NWFL premiership group A table.

Onyedikachi so far has featured in all Heartland Queens league game this season and her ever solid wall of defense has maintained 3 cleansheets out of 6 games and only conceded 3 goals so far this season and with one assist to her credit.

Onyedikachi is a young and vibrant defender, full of energy and with ability to dominate area contest. Out of the abundance of defensive talents available to the Coach Obi Ogbala’s side, Onyedikachi has cemented her place as a regular starter for the Owerri Landladies.

Onyedikachi won the WOTM award in Heartland Queens 4-0 pounding of Royal Queens on NWFL match day one at the Dan Anyiam stadium and has since then maintained a high level of performance and form.

Onyedikachi will be joining the rest of squad at the Nigeria Falconet’s team camp on Wednesday December 27th at the federal Capital territory (FCT) Abuja.

Falconets defeated Tanzania 3-2 on aggregate in previous round to set up a clash against Burundi.

Burundi will host the first leg of the  fixture in Bujumbura within the weekend of 12th - 14th January, with the return leg at the MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Saturday 20th January.

The winner of the two-legged encounter will book a ticket to the final showdown in Columbia.

The Nigerian Falconets reached the Quarter Finals of the 2022 FIFA Women’s U20 world cup and hope to qualify for the next edition in Columbia in 2024.

 

By Olaleye Oluwadamilola

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