SUPER Falcons head coach Randy Waldrum has called up Barcelona striker Asisat Oshoala and 22 other players for friendly matches ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in July and August.
The nine-time African champions will face Haiti and World Cup co-hosts New Zealand in tune-up games in Turkey.
The first match is against World Cup-bound Haiti at the Emir Sports Complex in Antalya on Friday April 7, and the second with New Zealand at the Mardan Sports Complex also in Antalya on four days later.
Team captain Onome Ebi and forward Rasheedat Ajibade are also included in Waldrum’s squad for the friendlies as the American seeks to avoid going on another winless streak which they ended in March.
Since beating Cameroon in the quarter-finals of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco in July, the Super Falcons had lost seven matches in a row, the worst losing sequence in their history, before beating Costa Rica in Mexico.
The Super Falcons were at the Four-Nation Revelation Cup in Leon, Mexico last month, where they played three matches, two of which were against World Cup-bound Costa Rica and Colombia.
The clashes in April are to further test the strength of the African representatives against other World Cup-bound teams, with this year’s edition being the biggest FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in history, as 32 teams are set to participate.
INVITED SUPER FALCONS PLAYERS:
Goalkeepers:
Chiamaka Nnadozie (Paris FC, France); Yewande Balogun (AS Saint-Etienne, France); Inyene Etim (Abia Angels)
Defenders:
Onome Ebi (Abia Angels); Osinachi Ohale (Deportivo Alaves, Spain); Ashleigh Plumptre (Leicester City, England); Glory Ogbonna (Besiktas JK, Turkey); Rofiat Imuran (Stade de Reims, France); Michelle Alozie (Houston Dash, USA); Oluwatosin Demehin (Stade de Reims, France)
Midfielders:
Halimatu Ayinde (FC Rosengard, Sweden); Christy Ucheibe (SL Benfica, Portugal); Ngozi Okobi-Okeoghene (FC Levante Las Planas, Spain); Deborah Abiodun (Rivers Angels); Toni Payne (Sevilla FC, Spain); Regina Otu (AS Saint-Etienne, France)
Forwards:
Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona Femenin, Spain); Rasheedat Ajibade (Atletico Madrid, Spain); Esther Okoronkwo (AS Saint-Etienne, France); Ifeoma Onumonu (NY/NJ Gotham FC, USA); Uchenna Kanu (Racing Louisville, Kentucky, USA); Desire Oparanozie (Wuhan Chegu Jianghan, China); Gift Monday (UDG Tenerife, Spain)
