The Our Futbol Podcast is proud to be collaborating with FUTBO13RA® to bring readers coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games – Women’s Soccer Tournament. You can download the FUTBO13RA® Guide: Paris 2024 PDF here.
It has been fifteen years since Nigeria played its last Olympic Games. Beijing 2008 was the stage that allowed the Superhawks to be part of the very small list of athletes who manage to live the Olympic experience.
Things didn’t turn out as the Nigerian team might have wanted, since they ended up at the bottom of the group standings alongside Argentina. However, Paris 2024 will be a great opportunity to show the world that what they did at the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand was not simply luck.
The Nigerian team earned their ticket to Paris in April of this year, when they beat their counterpart from South Africa 1-0 on aggregate. The scoreboard is a reliable reflection of how close the series was. In fact, the second leg on South African soil proved to be quite complicated for the Nigerians, since the home side put serious pressure throughout the 90 minutes. Still, Nigeria did just enough to qualify for the Olympic Games.
“Sixteen years without qualifying (for the Olympic Games) is a long time and I am very proud of the players,” stated head coach Randy Waldrum for the official FIFA site. “Since the number of participants is very small, each team has a high level. And if we look at our group, again, like in the World Cup, we could say that it is the group of death.”
Born in Texas, Waldrum coached the University of Notre Dame Women’s team from 1999 to 2013 and led them to the championship twice: in 2004 and 2010. He managed the Trinidad and Tobago squad beginning in 2014 and it was not until 2016 that he left that position to take the reins of the Houston Dash.
Although the Nigerian federation had been pursuing him since 2017, it was not until October 2020 that he was appointed technical director of the Super Falcons. It’s also worth noting that while he is the coach of the Nigerian women’s soccer team, the American also serves as the coach of University of Pittsburgh Panthers women’s soccer team in the United States.
Captain: Rasheedat Ajibade
“If we want to do what England, the United States or any elite team does consistently, there are still some things we need to improve. That’s the goal I have.”
– Rasheedat Ajibade for FIFA.com
As the sole goalscorer that awarded Nigeria a place at the 2024 Olympic Games, Rasheedat Ajibade assumes the responsibility of carrying the offensive torch, given Waldrum’s constant declarations that she has the potential to be the best player of the world.
A current player for Atlético de Madrid, Rash – as she is known – has been a member of the colchonera eleven that won the Spanish Super Cup in 2021 and the Queen’s Cup in 2023. In just four years, the Nigerian has placed herself in the select group of players who have played more than one hundred games for Atlético de Madrid. With ten goals in the 2023-2024 season, Ajibade was also recently awarded Atleti’s Player of the Season.
Her international distinctions also include being the top goalscorer for Nigeria and being part of the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations best eleven. Despite being only 24 years of age, her accolades actually started when she was much younger, being named Best Player in 2017 in the Nigerian league and earning the Young Player award from the Nigerian Federation in 2018.
Player to Watch: Chiamaka Nnadozie
Goals are a cornerstone of football. There is no doubt that statistics will always favor a team’s offense. But few can deny that those responsible for protecting the goal are just as important. The Nigerian team is no different. Without the performance of its goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie, especially in the second half of that match against South Africa that granted them a ticket to Paris, the Olympic dream would not have been possible.
The Olympic tournament will be special for Nnadozie because, in the goalkeeper’s own words, Paris is the city that has adopted her. She signed with Paris FC of the D1 Arkema of France in 2020. Before joining the French team, she played for Rivers Angels in her native country from 2016 to 2020, with whom she won the Nigerian Women’s Cup in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
She recorded six clean sheets for Paris FC during the 2023/2024 season, helping the team finish third in the competition, behind only Olympique Lyonnais and PSG. Her performance in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup lived up to expectations and she earned herself three clean sheets including an incredible performance against Canada where she saved a penalty by Christine Sinclair which would ultimately award the team a valuable point to advance to the Round of 16.
These brilliant performances of hers led her to be named Goalkeeper of the Year by the Confederation of African Football in 2023.
The Nigerian women’s team is currently ranked 36th in the FIFA Rankings, making them the highest ranked team in Africa. The results obtained over the years make them the most prominent team in their region. However, favoritism does not win games, which is why if they want to excel in Paris, they must work with humility and grit to be considered contenders for a place at the podium.
What time does Nigeria play at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games?
Nigeria’s Match Schedule in Group C
Thursday July 25
Nigeria vs. Brazil | 10:00 AM PST | 11:00 AM CDMX | 12:00 PM CST | 1:00 PM EST | Stade de Bordeaux
Sunday July 28
Spain vs. Nigeria | 10:00 AM PST | 11:00 AM CDMX | 12:00 PM CST | 1:00 PM EST | Stade de la Beaujoire
Wednesday, July 31
Japan vs. Nigeria 8:00 AM PST | 9:00 AM CDMX | 10:00 AM CST | 11:00 AM EST | Stade de la Beaujoire
This has been edited from its original version which can be found on the Futbo13ra website here.
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