With two days to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games qualifiers between Nigeria and their Ethiopian counterparts, Super Falcons interim head coach, Justin Madugu, has assured football-loving Nigerians of total victory.
The Super Falcons will on Tuesday at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja tackle the Ethiopians to qualify for the last round of the Paris 2024 football event.
Speaking exclusively with Tribune Sports at the team’s camp in Abuja on Sunday, Coach Madugu said the players are determined to pick the Olympic ticket after a long time absence from the Game adding that the players will approach each game as it comes.
The former Adamawa United and Adamawa Queens coach said the girls gave their best during the first leg but the high altitude in Addis Ababa and the jet lag affected the performance of the players. He said the players must prove to Nigerians that their performance at the last Women’s World Cup co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand was not a fluke by beating the Ethiopians at home.
“Nigerians are always passionate about our football especially our national teams and in particular, the Super Falcons because they have always delivered. We only want to promise Nigerians that we will do our best not to let them down and ensure that we win that game (against Ethiopia) and take each (round of matches) as it comes and ensure that this time around, we qualify for the Olympics. You can see from the commitment of the players that they are really determined to see that they do not miss out on the Olympics in 2024.
“Obviously for the return leg, we are looking up to nothing other than victory considering the factors under which we prosecuted the first game. The condition here will be better considering the fact that we have rested enough because in Ethiopia there are some factors that really affected the girls. The high altitude, the jet lag because some of them had to travel between 14 and 16 hours. They never had sufficient rest. In fact, some didn’t even have any session not even a training session at all before the game. Overall we had only one training session for just one hour. So all that accounted for some of the lapses we had in the last game.
“But the girls are really committed and very determined to ensure that this time around, they qualify for the Olympics because they know what it means to Nigeria. Having built a reputation for themselves at the last World Cup which would be the standard with which they would be adjudged, we do not have any reason not to be at the Olympics,” Madugu told Tribune Sports.
The trio of Rasheedat Ajibade, Tosin Demehin and Rinsola Babajide in separate interviews with Tribune Sports said Nigerians should expect the best from the Falcons on Tuesday.
“We are ready to give our best against Ethiopia on Tuesday and make sure that we move to the next level and of course Nigerians should expect the best. They should come as they always do and pray for us and we will make them proud as always. We all want to play in the Olympics and this will be my first time if we qualify.
“But Nigerians should also remember that this is football and there are no more minnows in football. There are no pushovers anymore in football. Looking at Nigeria, we have the quality, we have the players, we have the talents individually and collectively,” stand-in captain, Rasheedat Ajibade said.
For Stade De Reims of France defender Tosin Demehin and Rinsola Babajide of Costa Adeje Tenerife Egatesa of Spain forward who made her debut against Ethiopia, the Falcons understand the importance of the Ethiopian game and will give their best on the field on Tuesday.
Tribune Sports reports that the nine-time African champions have missed the last three editions of the Olympic games the last being at the Beijing 2008 in China.
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