By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
With few hours to the first of the two high-profile international friendly matches between Canada and Nigeria, Super Falcons Head Coach Randy Waldrum has no choice but to field a half-strength team in the tie billed for BC Place Arena in Vancouver.
This is even as some of the invited first team players are either injured or unable to secure entry visas to honour the two matches in Canada, a situation which has left the coach with no better choice than to extend invitation to players who were not earlier invited for Canada trip like third choice goalkeeper Yewande Balogun and new face, Jennifer Onyinyechi Echegini, a midfielder.
Sadly, reliable players who were invited but are unable to hit camp due to one reason or another are Osinachi Ohale, Glory Ogbonnaya and Esther Okoronkwo, who showed her class, netting the matchwinner against the Ivorians in Abidjan when Nigeria beat Cote d’Ivoire in February’s Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) final qualifiers in Abuja and Abidjan respectively.
Others are CSKA Moscow’s Francisca Ordega;
Regina Otu [Minsk], Ngozi Sonia Okobi-Okeoghene and Halimatu Ayinde [Eskilstuna United].
Meanwhile, Coach Waldrum will select from the 17 players who are in the team’s camp in Vancouver as at the time of this report.
However, Prompt News Online can confirm that the Super Falcons probable line up versus Canada are:
1.Nnadozie, Chiamaka
- Alozie Michelle
- Plumptre Ashleig
- Ogbonna Akudo
- Ebi Onome
6.Payne Nicole
7.Ajibade Rasheed
8.Onumonu Ifeoma
9.Kanu Uchenna
10.Chikwelu Rita
11.Payne Toni
Substitutes:
12.Oluehi Tochukwu (GK)
13.Balogun Yewande (GK)
14.Ucheibe Christy
- Efih Peace
- Mbadi Uju
- Echegini Jennifer Onyinyechi.
