Nigeria’s Senior Women National Team has fly out of the country for the 7th FIFA Women’s World Cup finals, believing they can do something new at the global table of women’s football.
The contingent jet out of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja aboard an Air France aircraft at midnight, and will arrive in Paris this morning before connecting another flight to Toronto, Canada.
Coach Edwin Okon and 10 other officials will travel with 26 players, and two others, Skipper Evelyn Nwabuoku and forward Francesca Ordega are set to join the team at the training camp in Toronto.
Nwabuoku, who scored a screamer in the 8-0 demolition of Mali in an All-Africa Games qualifier in Abuja last month, has recently been hooked by Kazakhstan women league champions, while Ordega, who also netted a brace in that match, plays for Washington Spirit in the USA.
Okon on Sunday dropped eight players, namely Chisom Henry, Yetunde Adeboyejo, Chioma Wogu, Onyinyechi Okeke, Gladys Akpa, Ramatu Abdulkarim, Winifred Eyebhokia and Chinaza Uchendu from the squad.
The Falcons have played in all previous six editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, reaching the quarter -finals in the United States of America in 1999.
Already confirmed for the African champions is a friendly against the Senior Women National Team of Canada on 25th May. On the same day, Okon will name his 23-woman squad to represent Nigeria at the finals.
The Super Falcons play Sweden in their first match of the 7th FIFA Women’s World Cup in Winnipeg on 8th June, with other matches against Australia (also in Winnipeg) and USA (in Vancouver) to come in Group D.
