Why I benched Oshoala for Okoronkwo

Asisat Oshoala is one of Africa’s biggest players, but she was benched in an important game for Nigeria

Super Falcons coach Randy Waldrum has revealed that his decision to bench Asisat Oshoala in Nigeria’s game against Cameroon on Monday was not a tactical one, Soccernet.ng reports.

Oshoala is unarguably Africa’s biggest footballer, and this is accentuated by her six CAF Player of the Year awards. However, her influence in the Super Falcons squad has been hugely questioned over the years because of her failure to turn up at important moments.

She has gotten a lot of criticism, and during the last Women’s World Cup, coach Waldrum dropped her from the starting eleven, as two of her four appearances were off the bench.

Last Friday, in Nigeria’s crucial Olympic qualifiers clash against Cameroon, Oshoala led the line, but it did not yield fruits, as the Super Eagles were quite blunt in the final third and had to settle for a goalless draw.

Then, in the second game, Waldrum made a big decision, benching Oshoala for Esther Okoronkwo, who eventually scored the winner for the Super Falcons.

When queried on his reason for benching Oshoala, Waldrum said, “I think we put out what we thought was the best eleven for the day to start the match. But we are fully confident of every player, we had some players that didn’t get minutes but are fully capable of helping us,” per Modo Victor.

Nigeria will know their opponents for the final round of qualifiers on Tuesday when South Africa play Tanzania. The Banyana Banyana already have a three-goal advantage from the first leg.