TWO players, Desire Oparanozie and Chinwendu Ihezuo, have been dropped from the Super Falcons squad for the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco in July.
The two have been replaced by Anam Imo and Ngozi Okobo-Okeoghene respectively.
The Nigeria Football Federation announced the changes to the squad last night but did not state why the two key players were withdrawn from the squad barely two weeks to the July 2 kick-off of the tournament.
Naija Times however gathered that the strict lockdown in China, where both players are based, is the reason for their withdrawal.
China has locked down part of the country to contain the spread of Covid-19, which has returned to the country with a vengeance in recent weeks.
Travel to and out of China is severely restricted and Wuhan’s Oparanozie as well as Guangdong Meizhou Hakka’s Ihezuo will not be able to make the trip to Morocco.
Okobi-Okeoghene and Imo are both based in Europe and will join the squad in Morocco like Oparanozie and Ihezuo were scheduled to do.
Oparanozie herself confirmed her inability to attend what would be her fifth WAFCON.
“Due to issues bordering on border restrictions, which is beyond my control, I am officially unavailable to serve,” the 28-year-old tweeted this morning.
“Which explains my replacement. I wish the team all the best in Morocco as I will be cheering from here.”
Striker Oparanozie’s experience will be a big miss, having played in four previous WAFCONs, scoring the winning goal in the 2016 final and emerging as top scorer in 2014.
The rest of the squad are preparing in Abuja, with four other players set to join them in Morocco for the tournament taking place from July 2 to July 23.
