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By Ebenezer Bajela.
Some sections of fans have raised eyebrows over the inclusion of Onome Ebi in the Super Falcons squad for next month’s Revelation Cup tournament in Leon, Mexico City, insisting she is too old and inactive to play for the nine-time African champions, The PUNCH reports.
Last Thursday, head coach of the Falcons, Randy Waldrum, called up 23 players for the friendly tournament.
Top on the list of the players invited are captain Ebi, Barcelona forward Asisat Oshoala, goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie and Leicester City’s Ashleigh Plumptre, with Desire Oparanozie, who was unceremoniously kicked out as captain of the women’s national team after leading a bonus protest against officials at the 2019 Women’s World Cup, once again omitted from the squad.
The tournament, which serves as preparation for the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this summer, has hosts Mexico, Nigeria, Costa Rica and Colombia in attendance.
Some fans expressed concerns as they questioned the addition of Ebi, who turns 40 before the World Cup.
So far this season, the defender has made just one appearance for her Spanish club Levante Las Planas, playing a total of seven minutes.
Her low turnout for Levante and her age has been a source of concern to fans, who queried her inclusion in the squad.
Reacting to the Nigeria Football Federation’s tweet on the invited players, a Twitter user Alex Ibeneme wrote, “Please we need good and young defenders and with all due respect Ebi should retire. What happened to Onyinyechi Zogg? She needs to be invited back to the national team, I’ve been following her and she is doing well.”
Moolah79 added, “What is Ebi doing on this list? She’s played just one match since AWCON and doesn’t even make it to the bench of her club plus she has just been kicked out by the club Levante Las Palmas. Waldrum doesn’t mean well for Nigeria.”
Vitalis Iwuchukwu, however, urged the central defender to retire and give way for younger players.
“Onome Ebi doesn’t retire? 39 years and counting. This is not fair to younger players. Even her club terminated her contract on a mutual basis. Waldrum can do better with the selections.”
“This coach is sinking Super Falcons. Onome Ebi at what age? What is going on in this country is unbelievable,” Asiru ABBAS wrote.
“Nigeria will be disgraced at the world cup. It’s never late to get a new coach. Look at the losses against South Africa, Zambia, Morocco, USA. How many of such are coming?”
Belinda Monday added, “It really baffles me that we still have Ebi on this list and some younger players overlooked. I don’t see us doing well at the World Cup if these are the players we want to parade.”
David Oku also tweeted, “Waldrum’s decision to drop Oparanozie, Efih and Monday Gift is ridiculous. Those players are in good form scoring goals. Waldrum needs to up his game & improve his scouting Cos at the moment it’s not the top stuff we’re so used to with the Super Falcons & it’s 6 Months to #FIFAWWC.”
At the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco last July, Waldrum’s team had a mix of the old guard and new blood, with Ebi (39), Tochukwu Oluehi (35), Rita Chikwelu (34), Osinachi Ohale (30) and Ordega (29) the veterans in the team.
The nine-time African champions, however, struggled against young South African, Moroccan and Zambian sides losing all three games against them, with many blaming the old players for the team’s underwhelming performance in Morocco.
Ebi was one of the players blamed for Falcons’ poor outing as the defender struggled against younger players and was easily outpaced.