Interim Super Falcons head coach Augustine Eguavoen has praised Blessing Okpe after the forward impressed in Nigeria’s 5-0 win over Comoros in their Los Angeles 2028 Olympic qualifier on Tuesday, www.aclsports.com reports.
Okpe made an immediate impact on her Super Falcons debut, providing an assist and winning a penalty after coming off the bench.
“I want to say a very big thank you to someone who called me. Okpe was a late invitee, and I was like, oh, somebody is scoring a lot of goals in the Belarus league, and then she’s not in the 28. But luckily for Okpe, a player pulled out, and she had a chance to come. And I think she has proven that her late call-up was worth it,” Eguavoen said.
At the post-match press conference, he also praised the team’s response to his demands in training.
“Very pleased. Congratulations to the girls, they made my day. I remember keeping on begging them, you know, because there’s so much new terrain. We need everybody’s support, and their response in training showed in the game. Yes, 5-0 today, the first leg was 0-2. I would say the Comoros team improved, and today they got five behind the net. But congratulations to us. As I said, I’m very impressed with the team.”
Eguavoen also hopes to use the November international window to assess more players ahead of the next stage of the qualifiers.
“We’ll try to see how we can utilise that window and make sure we bring players who didn’t have a chance to play in these two games. But then, we have to be mindful; it has to be a mixture because you lose one game, people start saying all sorts of things. We’ll make sure we have a solid team and see how we can give everyone an opportunity.”
Folashade Ijamilusi, who provided two assists off the bench, expressed her delight at contributing and said the team was focused on moving on from their WAFCON disappointment.
“When I came in, I saw the game through Rasheedat. She was doing well when she was there. When I was introduced, I took the chance to perform well. The assist was a good thing for me because this is something I really wanted for the team and for myself. As a team, we already told ourselves that we don’t want to think about the WAFCON anymore. It’s in the past, and there’s nothing we can do. We can just continue to work hard. Going forward, I think we’ll do better and give our best,” she said.
