Captain Rasheedat Ajibade is confident Nigeria’s Super Falcons will overcome the challenge of Cameroon and reach the final round of the African qualifying series for this year’s Women’s Olympic Football Tournament in France.
Ajibade, who scored the lone Nigeria goal that threw Cameroon’s Lionesses out of the Women Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco 19 months ago, and also netted two of the goals that eliminated Ethiopia in the second round of these qualifying series, says the Falcons have no fear of whatever the arch rivals can bring to the turf of the MKO Abiola National Stadium.
“Our objective remains getting the Olympics ticket. Personally, I have never played at the Olympics and that is the case with an overwhelming majority of players in this team. We are determined to take this opportunity. We have another 90 minutes to make our claim to the final-round ticket and we are focused on a positive result.”
Both teams will compete on a clean slate on Monday evening having battled to a barren ending in Douala, with the winner most likely to be up against reigning African champions South Africa for a place in Paris, Nigeriasoccernet.com reports.
Nigeria’s Falcons featured at the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament in Australia in 2000, Greece in 2004 and China in 2008, but have not qualified since their outing in China 16 years ago. Cameroon’s only previous outing was at the London 2012 Olympics.
By Olaleye Oluwadamilola