Sixteen Years later, The Super Falcons qualified for the Olympics football event after holding South Africa to a goalless draw to secure a 1-0 aggregate win.
The game played at the Lotes Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria didn’t produce a winner at the end of 90 minutes.
Nigeria’s first leg 1-0 win in Abuja was enough to help the Super Falcons qualify and end a 16-year wait to attend the Olympics football event.
Randy Waldrum Means Business
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Quotes from coach Waldrum explaining how he set up the team to get the needed result.
A strong defensive showing with a make-shift defender in Ucheibe partnering with Ohale ensured The reigning African champions couldn’t breach The Nigerian defense.
Nnadozie, who plays for Paris FC in France, enhanced her reputation and market value with great saves in the 70th and 86th minutes. In between, Ihezuo’s flicked header to an Ajibade in-swinger went narrowly away.
The one-goal win on aggregate means the Super Falcons qualified to participate in the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament for the first time since 2008 and will join Brazil, Spain, and Japan in a potentially explosive Group C in July.
“We did it, We did it! We are finally going to play in the Olympics,” Ajibade said excitedly at the final whistle.
Furthermore, the result means Nigeria gets to keep the record of never losing to the South African women on home ground.
Super Falcons Qualified: A History Of Near Misses
Earlier in 2020, Nigeria missed out on qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Games after losing a playoff on away goals rule to Ivory Coast.
In 2016, Nigeria lost to Equatorial Guinea 3-2 on aggregate in the third round of the Rio Olympics qualifiers.
Similarly, Cameroon stopped Nigeria from the 2012 Olympics via penalties.