Uniting the dressing room? Onome Ebi sees Oshoala and others as dangers to opponents’ defences at the 2023 Women’s W’Cup

Super Falcons squad is the first African team to have advanced to the quarterfinals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup

Super Falcons defender, Onome Ebi, has predicted that she and her team would put pressure on opponents before the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in spite of rumours of a “fractured dressing room.”

Rumours claimed that Asisat Oshoala and Ebi’s disagreement over the leadership position is still causing tension in the Super Falcons dressing room.

Nevertheless, the 39-year-old has predicted that her colleague will employ her excellent club performance to lead the Super Falcons team to further World Cup victories.

After beating Cameroon 1-0 in the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinals, the Super Falcons earned a spot in the ninth iteration of the quadrennial international women’s competition.

Following this, the team, having begun their warm-up practise with two defeats to two South American nations, was able to recover with victories against Costa Rica, Haiti, and one of the co-hosts of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, New Zealand.

As a result, it was reported that there had been some cracks in the Super Falcons dressing room. However, the Super Falcons captain addressed the tension in the air by encouraging Barcelona Femeni forward, Oshoala, among others, to bring a professional touch to the team’s upcoming trip to New Zealand.

“Asisat Oshoala, Desire Oparanozie, Francisca Ordega, Ashleigh (Plumptre), Toni Payne, we have so many playing abroad that are bringing that touch of professionalism to the national team, to make it look extraordinary. We feel it.

“The home-based players feel it a lot when they see the foreign players come back home to mix with them. It brings that joy, that feeling of something different from what we used to see.” she said, as quoted by Beatsandrhymesfc.

The Nigeria women’s team will begin their World Cup campaign against Canada on July 21 before games against Australia and Ireland. They are grouped in Group B with one of the co-hosts, Australia, as well as Canada and Ireland.