Patience Avre, a former forward for the Super Falcons, stated that Nigeria will be under pressure for their second leg Olympic qualifying match against South Africa, After their narrow victory at home.
At the MKO Abiola Stadium on Friday, the Super Falcons defeated South Africa 1-0 in the first leg of their final qualification match for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Avre, who played in three World Cups and represented the Falcons in the 2000 Australian Summer Olympics, believes that the outcome is insufficient to advance to the away leg in South Africa.
“That’s not good enough, it is tight but at least they tried by beating South Africa who are our rivals,”
“It’s still going to be very tough because now, they will be home team so definitely, there will be a lot of pressure there. The only thing we can do now is to do our best defensively and also in attacking by trying to score an early goal. If we don’t score early, it will make things hard for us because we all know how South African can be.”
Coach Randy Waldrum made a host of changes to the side that defeated Cameroon in February as Christy Ucheibe replaced Oluwatosin Demehin at center back, Chidinma Okeke came on in for the unavailable Ashleigh Plumptre at left back, while Uchenna Kanu and Chinwendu Ihezuo were handed a start in attack.
Nigeria started the game brilliantly with Ihezuo recording the first shot of the game in the 5th minute but her effort drifted wide. Three minutes later, Uchenna Kanu also had a go at goal but Kaylin Swart easily dealt with her shot.
In the 19th minute, Okeke delivered a cross into the penalty area but Ihezuo couldn’t get her attempt on target.
Four minutes before the end of the first half, Ihezuo was brought down in the penalty area and Rasheedat Ajibade stepped up to convert the resulting penalty.
The Atlético de Madrid forward strike would mean Nigeria would take a one-goal lead into the break.
The Super Falcons started the second half on a front foot with Kanu getting set up by Ajibade but the latter’s effort drifted wide.
Chiamaka Nnadozie was forced to make her first notable contribution of the game in the 56th minute, denying Jermaine Seopesenwe from restoring parity for the visitors.
At the hour mark, the Paris FC goalkeeper had to perform at her very best once more to keep the South Africans from scoring.
In the 67th minute, Waldrum substituted Esther Okoronkwo for Ihezuo and removed Kanu in favor of former Liverpool forward Rinsola Babajide in an effort to strengthen the assault.
The game ended quietly as neither team was able to generate many obvious opportunities.
Due to the outcome, the record African champions have a one-goal lead going into the second leg and only need to win to secure their spot in the competition.
