Nigeria’s Head Coach, Randy Waldrum has made a provisional list of 25 players for the upcoming Summer Series tour of the United States of America, where the nine-time African champions will play four-time world champions USA, Portugal and Jamaica.
Waldrum has made it known that 23 players will make the trip to the US, meaning two players will be dropped from the provisional squad.
Team captain Asisat Oshoala, fresh from becoming the first African player to earn a UEFA Women Champions Cup gold, tops the list with veteran defender Onome Ebi, youthful goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie, midfielder Halimatu Ayinde and forward Rasheedat Ajibade also called. Waldrum has included 10 home-based players in the provisional squad.
However, former captain and FC Dijon of France attacker Desire Oparanozie was not included in Waldrum’s list.
Oparanozie last featured for the Falcons during the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France in which she had a fallout with the NFF officials over outstanding allowances owed the players.
Matches will be played at the BBVA Stadium in Houston and at the brand-new, $240million Q2 Stadium in Austin built by the newest club in the Major League Soccer, Austin FC. Both cities are in the State of Texas and the clash between the Super Falcons and the US Women A team will be the first-ever football match at the state-of-the-art Q2.
The glamour tournament will run between 10th – 16th June and will see the Super Falcons clashing with their Jamaican counterparts in Houston on the 10th before taking on Portugal three days later at the same BBVA Stadium. Their last match is against the USA squad, four-time winners of the FIFA World Cup and four-time winners of the Olympic football gold, at the Q2 Stadium on 16th June.
The USA is the only one of the four teams in the Summer Series that will compete in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. The match against Nigeria will mark the first time the USA has ever faced the Super Falcons outside of a world championship and it will be just the third-ever friendly against an African country, with the previous two coming against South Africa.
THE FULL LIST
Goalkeepers: Tochukwu Oluehi (CD Pozoalbense, Spain); Chiamaka Nnadozie (Paris FC, France); Inyene Etim (Abia Angels FC)
Defenders: Onome Ebi (Minsk FC, Belarus); Gloria Ogbonna (Edo Queens FC); Osinachi Ohale (Madrid CFF, Spain); Oluwatosin Dimehin (Sunshine Queens FC); Chidinma Okeke (Madrid CFF, Spain); Abidemi Ibe (Bayelsa Queens FC); Patricia George (Sands FC, Germany); Esther Ogbonna (Sunshine Queens FC)
Midfielders: Rita Chikwelu (Madrid CFF, Spain); Ngozi Okobi-Okeoghene (Eskilstuna FC, Sweden); Celine Ottah (Bayelsa Queens FC); Halimatu Ayinde (Eskilstuna FC, Sweden); Oyedupe Payne (Sevilla FC, Spain); Amanda Mbadi (Bayelsa Queens FC)
Forwards: Asisat Oshoala (FC Barcelona, Spain); Vivian Ikechukwu (Rivers Angels FC); Uchenna Kanu (Linkopings FC, Sweden); Rasheedat Ajibade (Atletico Madrid FC, Spain); Francisca Ordega (Levante FC, Spain); Gift Monday (FC Robo Queens); Joy Bokiri (Bayelsa Queens FC); Charity Adule (SD Eibars FC, Spain)
