The Super Falcons of Nigeria played a goalless draw with Cameroon in the first leg of the qualifier for the women’s football event at the 2024 Olympics.
Nigeria looked a bit off-colour against the Indomitable Lionesses at the Stade de la Réunification, Douala, on Friday.
Randy Waldrum, Falcons’ head coach, took charge of the team for the first time since the 2023 Women’s World Cup. The contractual talks that forced him to delegate his duty to Madugu Justine, an assistant coach, had been resolved, and he returned to the team alongside Ashleigh Plumptre, who also last played for Nigeria at the World Cup.
However, the addition failed to add spice to the Falcons side that trounced Ethiopia 5-1 on aggregate in November 2023 to progress to the penultimate round of the qualifiers.
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The Cameroonians dominated the first half of the match as Nigeria struggled to make headway into their opponents’ box.
A brief spell of good possession inspired by the substitution of Toni Payne for Jennifer Echegini almost bore fruits for the Falcons in the second half. But two goals from Echegini were ruled offside by the match officials.
Nigeria will host Cameroon for the clash’s return leg at the Moshood Abiola stadium on Monday.
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The winner of the tie will face Tanzania or South Africa in the final round of qualifiers.
Only two teams will represent Africa at the 2024 Olympics.
The 2024 Olympics is billed to take place in Paris, France, from July 26 to August 11, 2024.
The Falcons played at the Olympics in 2000, 2004 and 2008.
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