Super Falcons: Nigeria’s Top Over/Underperformers at the 2024 Olympics

The Super Falcons’ campaign at the Paris 2024 Olympics came to an end after a 3-1 defeat to Japan on Wednesday.

After showing promise at last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup, where they were only beaten by England on penalties in the Round of 16, it was expected that the team would build on their Mundial performance, but that was not the case.

Going into the final group game against the Asians, the Super Falcons needed to win by two clear goals and hope other results would go their way to stand a chance of making it to the knockout phase.

However, they capitulated under Japanese pressure and lost the game 3-1, leading to their elimination.

After three group games, Nigeria placed bottom of Group C with no points, having lost all their games, conceding five goals while scoring just one: Jennifer Echegini’s goal in the game against Japan.

With the dust settled and the team now focused on the next Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, here is a rundown of players who performed well at the Olympics and those who underperformed.

Super Falcons: Shining Lights

Chiamaka Nnadozie

The first-choice goalkeeper for the Falcons for about five years now and she showed why she is highly rated.

The FC Paris goalkeeper is probably the reason why Nigeria did not concede more during the group games.

She kept Nigeria within touching distance in the first two group games, making incredible saves to put some respect on the results.

Nnadozie came up big for Nigeria in all the games and is surely one of Nigeria’s best performers as the Super Falcons crashed out in the group stage. Her instinctive save off a header against Spain was top-draw.

Deborah Abiodun

The youngster was a joy to watch in Nigeria’s midfield with her guile and graft, chasing down opponents relentlessly.

Her confidence on the ball and ability to break up play and orchestrate Nigeria’s offense were a beauty to watch despite her youthful exuberance.

She did not shy away from tackles and was always involved in duels to win balls in the midfield areas.

Nicknamed ‘Kante’ because of her tireless running, Abiodun was one of the shining lights in a rather disappointing Super Falcons showing at the Olympics.

Osinachi Ohale

One of the oldest members of the team, she is like old wine, getting better with age.

She partnered Tosin Demehin in the heart of the defense and was immense for the team despite their ouster in the group stage.

Ohale was a rock against Brazil as she kept Marta at bay and made a great goal-line clearance against Spain. Despite the not-too-impressive showing in the last group game against Japan, she put her body on the line numerous times to keep the scoreline respectable.

Super Falcons: Underperformers

Chidinma Okeke

Deployed at left back by Randy Waldrum, she looked like a disaster waiting to happen when Nigeria was on the defensive end.

She appeared jittery throughout the three games she started and, along with Michelle Alozie, had the most turnovers for any Nigerian player in the group games.

Okeke isn’t a natural full-back, which might be excusable, but she lacked confidence on the ball and was easily the weakest link in the games the Falcons played, especially the last group game against Japan.

Asisat Oshoala

The star of the team had an Olympics to forget as she looked heavy, lethargic, and slow most of the time.

She was benched for Chinwendu Ihezuo in the first group game as Nigeria lost to Brazil but started the second game and missed a glorious chance to score against Spain.

The Bay FC forward looked off the pace for most of the time she played, and when she got the chance to make an impact, it came to nought.

Surely, this was not one of her better outings for Nigeria.

Michelle Alozie

She was repeatedly beaten for pace during the group stage games, and her positional awareness was always suspect.

Most times, when she advanced forward from her full-back position, tracking back became an issue, which was exploited by Nigeria’s opponents.

In the last group game against Japan, her awareness was low as she got caught out of position twice and was easily beaten by the Japanese for their second goal.