Tag: Oshoala

President Bola Tinubu has lauded the achievements of Nigerian women on the global stage, saying they are changing the narrative by showing excellence, ingenuity and resilience in all fields.

President Tinubu said as much  when he, alongside the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, hosted Asisat Oshoala, Super Falcons striker and 2023 CAF Women’s Player of the Year, in Lagos yesterday.

The moments with Oshoala was narrated in a statement by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale.

President Tinubu and the First Lady had congratulated the Barcelona Femeni star on winning the best African female footballer of the year for the sixth time.

The President and the First Lady commended Oshoala for distinguishing herself in the sport, applauding her significant contributions to women’s football on the continent.

Read Also: Nigeria’s progressive movement must deliver on quality education for all, jobs for youths – Tinubu

“Nigerian women will always have a pride of place in the world. What our ladies have achieved in football, our women are achieving in all fields of endeavour around the world, rising to the top and demonstrating the best of the Nigerian character of excellence, tenacity, ingenuity, and resilience,” the President said.

Cognizant of the feats of star sprinter, Tobi Amusan, and the presence of multiple Nigerian women on the Forbes’ ‘2023 World’s 100 Most Powerful Women,’ List, including media mogul, Ms. Mo Abudu, and Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the President and the First Lady assured Oshoala of the nation’s continued support for her and other Nigerian women striving for excellence in their chosen paths.

Speaking to journalists after the warm reception, Oshoala said: ”I want to appreciate the President and the First Lady for giving me the opportunity to present the award to them. During the last World Cup, we had a couple of issues, and they intervened and have been very supportive to the girls, even after the competition.”

Ahead of January’s kick off of the 34th Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), the rank and file of the Super Falcons are tipping the Super Eagles to go all way in Cote d’Ivoire.

The Super Eagles are in a tricky Group A along with hosts , Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau and Equatorial Guinea. Yet Barcelona forward Asisat Oshoala who was recently  crowned women’s Africa Best Player for a record sixth time, said  with the strength in depth of the national team, the Super Eagles remains the team to beat amid different permutations by purists.

“ Of course, talk is cheap but the boys will be separated from the men by the time they get to the competition,” Oshoala said.

“We have the almighty Victor  Osimhen who is the best player in Africa now and we have (Victor)Boniface  doing very well with his club (Leverkusen)

“But generally, I think we have a very good team  and it’s not only about individual talents  and I think we have a good time to build towards the tournament.”

Read Also: Tough AFCON test awaits Super Eagles in Cote d’Ivoire, says Ugbade

Speaking in the same vein, Super Falcons’ Michelle Alozie,  said the Super Eagles have all it takes to be African champions.

“ I think they ( Super Eagles) have an amazing squad,” the 26-year-old forward told  Brila Fm. “ I hope they will be amazing.” 

Yet former national team skipper  Christian Chukwu who incidentally led Nigeria to her first AFCON title on home soil in 1980, has called for caution, adding the goalkeeping department may be  the Super Eagles Achilles heel in Cote d’Ivoire.

“ The problem is that (Jose) Peseiro didn’t do his work very well,” noted Chukwu who  assisted Dutch coach Clemens Westerhof to wrought Nigeria’s second title at Tunisia 2994.

“ If he’d stayed more and watched the Nigerian league , he would have seen a lot of good goalkeepers but I don’t understand him jumping from here to there.”

Osahon reveals battles Nigerian ace overcome to the top

•  By Taiwo Ibrahim

Emmanuel Orobosa Osahon, the man who gave Asisat Oshoala her first opportunity as a footballer, has revealed that the six-time African player of the year would have been converted into a midfielder by the handlers of the Nigerian under 17 women team if he had not insisted that she was natural goal scorer.

The veteran coach revealed this in an exclusive interview with NationSports and went further to say that the 29 year old Barcelona star was initially dropped from the Flamingos team because they felt she was not good enough but through hard work and dedication she was able to overcome a difficult start to her footballing career.

The ‘Oracle’ as Osahon is fondly called,  is a household name in Nigeria women’s football sphere, he is the founder and coach of FC Robo Queens.

Robo Queens has produced numerous players for the different age grades of Nigerian football including the Super Falcons.

The likes of Aminat Yakubu, Esther Sunday, Asisat Oshoala, Rasheedat Ajibade and Monday Gift are all product of the Mushin-based club in Lagos State.

He said: “Oshoala is the most favoured one, Esther Sunday was the most surprising one because she was the smallest in her generation in my team and from nowhere she got into the national team.

“Oshoala passed through tough times before becoming what she is today, she went to the Flamingo team and she was dropped because they said she is not good enough.

“She was invited to the U-20 (Falconets) and they wanted to convert her to a midfielder because of her strength and I told her I made you a scoring machine go and tell them that your coach said you are a scorer and they pushed her upfront and she started scoring goals. The first thing we build in the players is strength.”

Osahon also revealed that Asisat’s parents were initially against her playing football and wanted her to join her mother in the family business after she was done with her education and he has to personally visit her parents to persuade them to let her play.

He added that Asisat’s father was sceptical at first but later agreed because he also loved football.

“The person that really discovered Asisat Oshoala (Lucky Oni)is late now, they went for a competition and the person just called me on phone that he has found a player that I will like and I asked him to bring her.

“He brought her and I told her if she was interested in playing for FC Robo and said yes, I told her if you play here in three years’ time you will play in the national team.

“Initially it was very tough, because her mother was a business tycoon in Lagos and she wanted her to continue the business line and I visited her parents.

“The mother never wanted her to play football, I remember sometimes when we have a game to play she will have to go put market in the shop before coming to the match venue, so she will joyfully go to the shop and rush down to the match venue because she is already seeing herself in vision I sold to her when she first joined FC Robo queens.

Read Also: 2023 AFCON: Nwabali excited over Super Eagles prospects

“Oshoala’s father has always been in support of her career since she started because he loves football naturally.

“The father told me that some people have come to deceive them in the past and he will like to see if I can be different and I told him to give me time to groom her.”

Osahon recalled that when Asisat started she was abused for missing a lot of chances which brought her to tears but he encouraged her to become better and prove her detractors wrong.

“The first thing that happened was that almost all the competitions we played in Lagos State, Oshoala won the top scorer awards.

“But when she first started, she was missing chances a lot and people will start abusing her and she will begin to cry. I will keep telling her not to worry that the same people abusing her will come and celebrate her.”

On her record six win as the African Player of the year, Osahon said he predicted she would win it despite the uproar when she won it for the fourth time and he is very excited that her efforts have paid off.

“I predicted that she will win the award for the sixth time because there was uproar when she won the fourth one in Nigeria, Oshoala is the type of person that if things do not go her way she is always worried.

“There was a time she battled with injuries but will still score 20 goals at the end of the season.

“Oshoala deserved that award in terms of record, physical performance, club level. So I was excited when she was named the winner,” he noted.

Super Falcons attacker, Asisat Oshoala will have to do without coach Jonatan Giráldez who has signified to leave Barça Women at the end of the season.

The Blaugrana boss announced the decision in a press conference and will bring to an end a run of three successful and record breaking seasons.

Giráldez came to the Club as an assistant to Lluís Cortés in the youth teams. In 2019 he joined the first team coaching staff as an assistant and was part of the squad that won the league and the cup as well as reaching their first ever European final. 

Read Also: CAF award: Dabiri-Erewa  extols Osimhen  Oshoala, Nnadozie 

Then, in 2021 the team did the treble, winning the Champions League, the Copa del Rey and the league title in Barça Women’s best ever season. 

 In July 2021 Giráldez became first team coach and in his debut season the team won the league, the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup, as well as being runners-up in the Champions League. In his second season, 2022/23, the team took the league title once again, the Champions League and the Spanish Super Cup in another successful season for the Blaugrana.