Super Falcons coach, Randy Waldrum is confident that the team can cope with the injuries to key players Halimatu Ayinde and Ashley Plumptre.
He believes the squad has enough depth to fill the gaps left by their absence.
“When you lose Ashley Plumptre and Halimatu Ayinde, they’re two world-class players, and it’s hard for any team to lose quality like that, especially two of them,” Waldrum said.
“But the thing we’ve preached to our players all along is somebody else has to step up and replace them. I think we saw that with Okeke coming in and Chitima coming in to left back for Ashley when she was out against Cameroon and South Africa.”
Randy Waldrum on the team’s strength in midfield stated, “Right now, the good thing is we’ve got some depth in midfield with players like Christy Ucheibe, Debbie Abiodun, and Toni Payne. It’s still a good, solid, strong midfield. We’ve got other players like Echegini and Rasheedat Ajibade who can play in there if needed. So even though we lose a good player, we’ve got some depth in there.”
“I feel bad for them. I hate that they don’t get the opportunity to play in the Olympics,” the coach sympathized with the injured players unable to join the team.
“We will give our best effort to overcome the challenges in Bordeaux, France, when the Olympic Games get underway.”
