Harry Awurumibe who was in France
The world may have seen the last of some of the super stars of women’s football at the just concluded 8th FIFA Women’s World Cup final even as France 2019 may well prove to be the World Cup swansong for some of the world’s finest players like Megan Rapinoe of United States and Brazil’s Marta.
There are strong indications that some of the players including Nigeria’s duo of Faith Ikhidi-Michael and Onome Ebe; Formiga and Cristiane-Brazil and Canada’s scoring legend, Christine Sinclair who are over 30 years of age may not be around in the 9th edition which is four years away.
Others who may likely be missing inaction in 2013 are the US legends, Carli Lloyd and Ali Krieger; Norway keeper Ingrid Hjelmseth and Nigeria Super Falcons midfielder, Rita Chikwelu to mention but few. While the future is in safe hands with the next generation of talents, these star performers are sure to be missed if they do not return to the big stage in 2023.
A close look at the ages of most of the players in the rooster of the 24 countries that took part in the last competition in France show that some important players to their countries will not make the list of their nation’s squad if they qualify for the 2023 edition.
For example, Rapinoe , 34 will be 38 in four years time same with many others in that age bracket including some Nigerian players who have clocked same age as the American superstars, Lloyd, Krieger and Brazil and four-time FIFA Women’s Best Player Award winner, Marta.
Surely France 2019 is end of an era for the world’s best players in the modern time.
