Onyenezide in cloud nine after Falcons invite

Nigerian midfielder, Esther Onyenezide, is in cloud nine following her invitation to the Nigeria’s Super Falcons squad

Falcons head coach, Randy Waldrum, handed a late call-up to the 20-year-old for the 2024 Women’s Olympic qualifying games against Ethiopia following an injury to 2023 Women’s World Cup star Halimatu Ayinde.

Onyenezide impressed at last year’s U-20 Women’s World Cup finals in Costa Rica by scoring three goals for the Falconets as Nigeria reached the quarter-finals.

While reacting to the call-up, the Rivers Angels woman was excited and is already looking forward to her debut.

“Excited to announce that I’ve been invited to join the Nigeria’s senior women’s national team. It’s an honour to represent my country and wear the green and white. “Can’t wait to give it my all and make Nigeria proud against Ethiopia,” she wrote on her X account.

The first leg of the doubleheader encounter will take place at the Abebe Bekila Stadium, Addis Ababa on Wednesday (today), while the return leg holds at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Tuesday, October 31.

The delegation of home-based players and technical and backroom staff from Nigeria flew into Addis Ababa on Sunday with the overseas-based players already in camp.

The winners on aggregate will confront the winners of the fixture between Cameroon and Uganda.

Ethiopia’s senior girls, nicknamed Lucy, secured a spot for this round after beating Chad 10-0 in the first round of the series in July.

The Ethiopians won the first leg 6-0 in Addis Ababa, before lashing their hosts 4-0 in N’Djamena five days later.