SUPER Falcons stars Rasheedat Ajibade, Chiamaka Nnadozie and Rinsola Babajide have no doubts that they will overcome Ethiopia on the way to qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympics women’s football event.
The three-time African champions host the Ethiopians tomorrow at the MKO Abiola National Stadium in the second leg of their qualifying tie.
The first leg in Addis Ababa ended 1-1 with Ajibade equalising for Nigeria after Ethiopia had taken a shock lead.
“The spirit in camp is excellent and we’re looking forward to victory,” Atletico Madrid star Ajibade, who captained the Super Falcons in the first leg, said.
“We will work very hard from the very first minute because we have no reason to underrate them; they gave us a scare in the first leg. Our objective is to earn a clear win and make progress in the race.”
Paris FC goalkeeper Nnadozie, who was impressive at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia in the summer and has inspired her club to the group stage of the UEFA Women’s Champions League, assured that the Super Falcons are keen to see off Ethiopia after underperforming in the first leg.
“Our plan was to win the first leg (in Addis Ababa), but we have taken the draw and the lessons that came from there,” Nnadozie said.
“We are looking forward to the return match in Abuja and we will go all out for victory.”
Newcomer Babajide, who won her first cap for Nigeria in Addis Ababa, added: “Everybody wanted more from the first game; we know we underperformed. We really should have won but the circumstances made it difficult.
“Now, at home and in front of our own people, we’ve got the advantage and we just need to work harder than ever before, get the goals and most importantly, win on the day.”
Caretaker coach Justine Madugu admitted that his girls were disappointed by the result in Addis Ababa and are determined to put things right in Abuja.
“We were not too happy about the result of that first game. It’s unfortunate not to win the first leg but we are equally realistic with ourselves,” he noted.
“We had some challenges in that game, and did our best to quickly surmount them. The girls have overcome those challenges and are really determined to make sure they are part of the Olympics next year.”
Although minnows when placed side-by-side with Nigeria, Ethiopia are no pushovers, having defeated Chad 10-0 on aggregate in the first round to set up the tie against the Super Falcons.
They defeated Chad 6-0 in Addis Ababa and followed up with a 4-0 thrashing of their hosts in N’Djamena a few days later.
Tomorrow’s fixture at the MKO Abiola National Stadium will kick off at 4pm.
