April 08, (THEWILL) – Ahead of the Super Falcons’ double-header versus Canada, Asisat Oshoala has been stripped of her captaincy of the country’s senior women’s national football team.
On September 17, 2019, the Barcelona star was promoted to captaincy from her previous position as the Super Falcons vice-captain at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.
Former acting coach of the Falcons, Chris Danjuma, stripped Desire Oparanozie of the armband because of Oparanozie’s clash with Nigerian football authorities after leading a sit-in protest at the World Cup, and transferred it to Oshoala.
The reigning and record-equalling four-time Africa Women’s Player of the Year has now herself been stripped of the captaincy of the team.
The move comes just days before Nigeria’s 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations build up games versus Olympic winners Canada in the upcoming two-legged ties in British Columbia on April 8 and 11.
Current Super Falcons coach Randy Waldrum picked a 25-player roster, with the Barcelona star missing out due to injury. It is a tough period for Oshoala as she was just getting back into steam after recovering from a lengthy period on the sidelines from her previous injury.
The recent thigh injury she sustained while on international duty in February will keep the 28-year-old attacker out of a fourth consecutive game for Nigeria. She has, however, been informed that in her absence, the captain armband will no longer be hers, as a result of directions from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to the technical staff of the Falcons.
While the American coach was reticent about the circumstances of the team’s expected captaincy transition, more information have come from within the NFF that have provided some explanations for the unexpected captaincy switch.
A high-ranking official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, as no one has been authorised to speak on the matter, explained: “We have no issue whatsoever with Asisat [Oshoala], but thoughts of stripping her of the armband came after Aisha Buhari Cup last September.
“This is not for anything negative, but for troubling concerns of seeing her struggle in national team colours. We and the coach [Waldrum] observed the captaincy is weighing her down and affecting her play. With or without it, we believe she is a true professional player and should not struggle to prove otherwise by delivering on the pitch.”
Although the Lagos-born striker has been in sensational form for Barcelona, scoring 19 goals in 16 games, she has struggled to score for Nigeria in her previous six appearances, dating back to her treble against Equatorial Guinea in Turkey in February 2021.
As captain, she led the Super Falcons to victory in the Turkish Women’s Cup, but she was unable to prevent the team from missing a third consecutive Olympics, and they also lost the inaugural Aisha Buhari Cup to South Africa.
Following the move, Onome Ebi has been named the team’s new captain.
While Ebi, who holds the African record for most World Cup appearances (five), begins her reign as captain against Canada in Vancouver, CSKA Moscow forward Ordega will continue to serve as assistant captain.
In the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, the 38-year-old Ebi wore the armband in place of injured Asisat Oshoala and late-arriving assistant Francisca Ordega, and guided her team to a 2-0 home win over Cote d’Ivoire.
The former Minsk defender, who co-captained with Rita Chikwelu at the 2018 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana, will now lead the Super Falcons to their 12th campaign in Morocco, where she will compete in her seventh AWCON.
Waldrum, who is the Super Falcons’ fifth manager in the previous five AWCON appearances, will rely on Ebi’s strong leadership to emulate Edwin Okon, Florence Omagbemi, and Thomas Dennerby’s continental achievements by leading the West African team to a fourth straight tournament victory this summer.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
