Izuchukwu OkosiNigeria’s Super Falcons on Tuesday evening booked their passage to the next round of qualifiers to the Football event of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with a 4-0 win over Ethiopia at the MKO Abiola stadium Abuja, reports Prime Business Africa.
The nine-time African champions were held to a 1-1 draw by the Lucy of Ethiopia in the first leg in Addis Ababa but the Falcons were dominant in the second leg to set up a meeting with either Uganda or Cameroon in the next round.
The Falcons thus qualified 5-1 on aggregate am will meet the winner over two legs between Uganda and Cameroon. The Ugandans won the first leg 2-0.
Nine players that started the first leg retsonedctjekrcplaces with the duo of Rufiat Imuren and Ifeoma Onumonu replacing Nicole Payne and Monday Gift.
The first real big chance for the Falcons was midway into the first half when Asisat Oshoala bore down on goal but could not get past the Ethiopian goalkeeper.
Uchenna Kanu opened the goals account for the Falcons at the stroke of halftime with a great finish, finely placing the ball into the bottom left corner after a long pass from Tosin Demehin deep from the central defence.
Oshoala who finished in the 20th place in the Women’s Ballon D’Or awards held on Monday night turned provider five minutes into the second half when she found Rasheedat Ajibade who slotted home the ball.
In the 68th minute, Oshoala got herself among the goals with a textbook header as the game gradually ebbs away from the grasp of the nippy Ethiopians.
Ajibade made the scoreline even more comfortable 18 minutes before full time after yet another assist from the inform Oshoala.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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