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Nigeria National Team Pool Head Coach Paul Hamilton
January 9, 2000 The final team list of the Nigeria National Women's National Team, the Falcons, for the four-nation invitational tournament in Hong Kong is out. The players that will wear the Nigerian green and white colour at next weeks tournament are : Goalkeepers
Defenders
Midfielders and strikers
Officials
March 9, 2000
January 4, 2000 The Falcons of Nigeria on Sunday, January 1, 2000 seeked divine support for the Sydney 2000 Olympics and the four nation invitational tournament taking place in Hong Kong from January 14 to January 21. The Falcons, led by former player and assistant coach Eucharia Uche, worshipped at Winners ChapelÕs Faith Tabernacle in Canaan Land, Otta, Ogun State, where Bishop David Oyedepo prayed for them. According to Uche, Bishop OyedepoÕs prayer for the team was fulfilling and has uplifted them spiritually. "We are very happy we came here (church) today," said Uche of the Falcons. In the last few days of 1999, many Falcons were hit with sickness. Yinka Kudaisi, the team's formidable defender, also had a car accident on her way to the camp. "The prayer of the Bishop has uplifted us and we will strive to do the nation proud,"added Nkiru Okosieme who was the former captain of the team. The team is expected to depart the Ota camp on Saturday for Lagos from where they will leave for Hong Kong to participate in a four-nation invitational tournament,which features China, Brazil and the host, Hong Kong. The Falcons placed fifth among 16 teams that participated
in last yearÕs FIFA WomenÕs World Cup in the United States.
January 2, 2000 The Falcons of Nigeria has suffered a big set back in their preparation for the four nation invitational tournament taking place in Hong Kong this month. The team camp has been hit by sickness and absence of players from camp. According to information received from Lagos, 15 of the 25 invited players reported to the camp two weeks after training was supposed to start for the tournament and the summer olympic in Sydney, Australia. Most of the reported players are down with waterborne sickness, which was caused by the impure water supplied them by the administators of the Farmgate Hotel,Otta, where the team is camped. Alhaji Ismaila Mabo, the team's coach, has blamed the football authority in Nigeria for this hapless situation. Mabo is also sad that some of his key players have not reported to the camp. Goalkeeper Ann Chiejine, Patience Avre, Eberechi Oparaku and Prisca Emeafu are among the players that have not reported to the camp as of last week. Th other missing players are Nkiru Okwara, Vivian Nkemakolam, Udeme Reuben, Gloria Usieta, Celestina Onyeka, and Yinka Kudaisi who had a car accident on her way to the camp. It has been authoritatively revealed that four of the players will start professional soccer careers on January 10 in Germany. They are defenders Eberechi Oparaku, Kikelomo Ajayi and Gloria Usieta as well as attacker, Nkechi Egbe. They were in the Falcons' team at the FIFA Women's World Cup USA '99. They will join Tus Niederkirchen, a first division women's soccer team, on January 10, 2000. They were offered contracts after successful trials last year November. According to Usieta who spoke to Lagos based newspaper, The Guardian, the German club side has offered the four Nigerian female footballers contracts which was very difficult to resist. Usieta was reported as saying, "the management of Tus Niederkirchen has offered four of us free accommodation, cars and good salaries as well as other incentives which will make us play for the team." She added that the club officials were so impressed with their skills that they didn't want to let us go. "We had to make strong promise before they allowed us to come back to Nigeria to sort things out with our local clubs and the Nigeria Football Association (NFA)." Usieta stated. She disclosed that the NFA has issued her and Egbe an international transfer certificate (ITC) while the duo of Oparaku and Ajayi have not been given their certificates as of press time. In a related development, NFA has appointed the former Falcon player, Eucharia Uche, as the assistant coach for the country's National Women's team. Uche, who was part of the Nigeria world cup squad in China 91 and Sweden 95, will assist Mabo in preparing the team for the Olympic games. December 14, 1999 Experience, they say, is the best teacher. The Nigerian Football Association (NFA) has learnt that it is important to start preparing the country's Women National Team, Super Falcons, for the Sidney Olympic soccer game earlier than usual. Next week, the Super Falcons will participate in a four -nation regional tournament in Burkina Faso. The participants are Cote d' Ivoire, Ghana and the host country, Burkina Faso. The Falcons will use the tournament as a way of building up for the summer olympic soccer fiesta. The Falcons of Nigeria, which was the surprise team of the last Women's World Cup in the US, will be the only Africa's representative at the Sydney 2000 Olympic soccer game. At the time of filing this report, 18 players have been invited to camp by the Falcons' chief coach Ismaila Mabo, who has kept busy himself for the last four months scouting for young but talented players in the country's national league. Among the 18 invited players for this tournament are four new faces. The new players are: a skillful midfielder Dupe okusanya, diehard defender Tosin Otubajo, a prolific striker Perpetual Nkwocha , and the last but not the least is another reliable defender Janet Ikpi. The 14 other players are members of the last summer World Cup squad.Mabo hopes to invite more players to camp after this four-nation tournament. The Football authority in Nigeria is also arranging another friendly game between Falcons and the Hong Kong national team for January. Australia, USA, Germany, China and France are among the countries to be contacted by the authority for friendly matches.
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