Izuchukwu OkosiSuper Falcons captain Onome Ebi will not be available for Friday’s third place final in the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco against Zambia reports Prime Business Africa.
The 39-year-old defender who is the oldest player in the tournament suffered a hamstring injury – a Grade 2 biceps femoris muscle tear -which will require between six weeks to two months to recover from.
Ebi who became captain of the nine-time African champions after Asisat Oshoala was briefly handed the role copped the injury on Monday in the quarterfinals defeat to hosts Morocco.
Head coach of the Falcons, Randy Waldrum is however optimistic that his team will cope with the absent players.
Ebi is out now through injury and the duo of Rasheedat Ajibade and Halimat Ayinde were suspended in the 5-4 penalty shootout loss to the Atlas Lionesses.
“We have two players suspended as a result of of red cards in the last game, and we also have some players down with injury. So, there will be changes but we will go for the best legs that would give us victory on Friday,” the American coach said Thursday evening at the pre match press conference.”
Zambia coach Bruce Mwape rued missed opportunities in the controversial defeat to South Africa in the first quarterfinals match played on Monday.
“We gave our all and created chances but we failed to take them and that was a mistake that we paid dearly for in the end.
“We have put that behind us and now, we want to win the bronze medals for our people,” Mwepe declared on Thursday.
The third-place final will kick off at 9pm Nigerian time at the Complexe Mohamed V in Casablanca – Morocco’s economic and industrial capital.
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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