Ajibade Defends Super Falcons Against Criticism

Super Falcons captain Rasheedat Ajibade has called the criticism aimed at the team after their poor performance in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations unfair. She believes the players are determined to secure a spot at next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

The Falcons want to take advantage of another chance to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup. This comes after their automatic qualification slipped away with a 1-0 loss to Cameroon in the quarter-finals of WAFCON on Sunday.

They must defeat South Africa in Casablanca on Thursday to move on to FIFA’s inter-confederation play-offs in November and December. This will give them another chance to qualify for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil.

Nigeria had a tough start to their title defence. They lost 3-2 to new entrants Malawi before recovering with a 1-0 win over Zambia and a 6-2 victory against Egypt to reach the quarter-finals.

The loss to Cameroon dashed Nigeria’s hopes of defending their WAFCON title and winning an 11th championship. It also meant they missed out on automatic qualification for the World Cup.

The Falcons have faced a lot of backlash from Nigerians since their exit. Ajibade has asked fans to understand the sacrifices players make while representing the country.

“A lot of people don’t know what players are going through to come and represent the country. Players put in everything on the pitch, and people will still say what they want to say. It is not fair, and we can do better as a person, as a nation,” Ajibade said during the pre-match press conference before the South Africa match.

“You have social media, but it doesn’t mean you should keep bashing people.

“For us, we have seen all of those things, and we know that all we are trying to do is make the nation proud. We are not going to the pitch to mess anybody up.

“When you see the jersey, we wear the family name, so that is at stake as well. We also want to win as much as you want to win. We felt everybody’s pain, and we felt the support that we got last year. That is what we want to keep doing.