Super Falcons coach, Edwin Okon yesterday named six foreign professionals along with 15 players based at home for the African Women’s Championship.
The AWC is slated for between October 11 and 25 in Namibia.
France-based Desire Oparanozie tops the list of the foreign-based stars who also include Perpetua Nkwocha, Onome Ebi, Esther Sunday and Francesca Ordega.
US-based Ohale Osinachi is the only overseas-based player who has been in training camp in Abuja.
The coach also dropped nine players from the Namibia-bound team. They are Sarah Nnodim, Uchechi Sunday, Ihezuo Chiwendu, Loveth Ayila, Rosemary Okezie, Blessing Edoho, Mariam Ibrahim, Charity John and Juliet Obi.
The home girls who made the cut for Namibia are regular suspects like skipper Evelyn Nwabuoku, Asisat Oshoala, Precious Dede, Ibubeleye White, Stella Mbachu, Ngozi Okobi and Gloria Iroka.
Others who scaled the hurdle are Ngozi Ebere, Ugo Njoku, Josephine Chukwunonye, Gloria Ofoegbu, Nku Cecilia, Halimat Ayinde, Onyinyechi Ohadugha and Christy Ohiariaku.
Coach Okon confessed that it was not easy picking the final 21 players that will don the colours of Nigeria at the AWC noting that all the 9 players he dropped worked very hard to be in the team but that because all of them cannot be in Namibia some of them have to go.
He revealed that he had settled for a mixture of youth and experience because there are no longer minnows in women football in Africa stressing that he is optimistic that the squad he picked will reclaim the title for Nigeria.
“With the foreign based players guiding the home girls, we sure have what it takes to win in Namibia. We are determined to reclaim the title we lost two years ago by going all out to ensure that we make no mistake,” coach Okon said.
Nigeria are drawn in Group A alongside giant killers Cote d Ivoire, who eliminated champions Equatorial Guinea, Zambia and hosts Namibia.
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