SUPER Falcons of Nigeria goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie is keen to banish the disappointment of the team’s failure to qualify for the last Olympics as they get set to face South Africa.
The nine-time African champions failed to qualify for the last Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan with Nnadozie still fresh in the team but she is now the established first choice goalkeeper.
Indeed, the Super Falcons, Africa’s most successful women’s football national team, have not made it to the Olympics since 2008, and Nnadozie is eager to end the long wait.
The Super Falcons face current African champions Banyana Banyana of South Africa in early April for one of the continent’s two slots at the Paris 2024 Olympics women’s football event.
“I read so many things about the Olympics. We didn’t manage to qualify in 2020, I felt bad at first, then I said to myself ‘Come on, you have time ahead of you’ and that’s it another great opportunity to qualify,” Nnadozie, who is the African Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year, said in an interview published by the Confederation of African Football today.
“I want to know what it feels like to participate in the Olympic Games.”
Nnadozie is also driven by the desire to play in France for two sentimental reasons: she made her international break at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in the country in 2019 and currently plays for Paris FC, a club in the country’s capital city and main venue for the 2024 Olympics.
At Nigeria’s last Olympics participation in 2008, the Super Falcons shot stopper was Tochukwu Oluehi, and she has been inspiring Nnadozie.
“I like how she talks to us about it, the advice she gives us and how much she insists telling us that it is important to qualify for the Games,” the 23-year-old said.
“It’s a great tournament, according to her. Through all her stories, I want to qualify even more.”
The Super Falcons will host South Africa in Abuja on April 5 in the first leg of the qualifying tie, with the second leg scheduled for Nespruit four days later.
