Ajibade rescues Falcons as Nigeria, Ethiopia settle for draw

Rasheedat Ajibade scored Nigeria’s goal in the 1-1 draw with Ethiopia… yesterday.

Super Falcons, yesterday in Addis Ababa, struggled to a 1-1 draw with a spirited Ethiopian senior women national team in the first leg of their Paris 2024 Olympic Games qualifier.

The Ethiopians, who defeated Chad 10-0 on aggregate in the earlier round of the series, put up a strong fight against their more renowned opponents. They took the lead as early as the sixth minute through Birkie Amare off a corner kick.

Thereafter, they sought to add to their tally, but the experienced Nigerian backline of Nicole Payne, Oluwatosin Demehin and Akudo Ogbonna stood like a brick wall.

Captain of the day, Rasheedat Ajibade, restored parity with a blinder six minutes after the restart, as Nigeria came into the second half more determined to get a good result.

Asisat Oshoala missed an opportunity to give the Falcons the lead halfway into the second half when he fumbled with a cross from Tony Payne.

Substitute Ifeoma Onumonu had a chance to put Nigeria ahead in the 64th minute, but she was stopped as she made to pull the trigger.

What would have been the winner for Nigeria was ruled out by Algerian referee, Lamia Atman, who disallowed Onumonu’s towering header for a foul in the build up.

The second leg of the game at the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja, on Tuesday next week, will decide the tie.

Victory for Nigeria will set up a third round clash with the winner of the Cameroun/Uganda second round tie.

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