Oshoala, Plumptre Lead Withdrawals From Nigeria Squad for Comoros Clash

Asisat Oshoala and Ashleigh Plumptre are among the players who have withdrawn from Nigeria's squad for the 2028 Olympic qualifiers against Comoros. 

MK Dons Women captain Favour Omenazu and Belarus-based forward Blessing Okpe are among those called in to fill the gaps.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) said Plumptre, who had been recalled after missing the 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations through injury, asked to be excused because of a ligament problem. Oshoala, the six-time African Player of the Year, also asked to be excused, but the federation gave no reason.

Benfica defender Oluwatosin Demehin and forward Flourish Sabastine are also out. They are said to be sorting out residency permit issues in Portugal. That leaves interim coach Austin Eguavoen with a thinner squad than the one he first picked.

Eguavoen has also let Oluwakemi Adegbuyi and Favour Nkwocha join Nigeria's under-17 team ahead of the FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup in Morocco. Adegbuyi was named most valuable player at the recent WAFU-B Under-17 Girls Cup. Nkwocha was part of the squad at the Under-20 Women's World Cup in Poland.

The changes force the former Nigeria captain to reshape his group just days before Friday's first leg at the Remo Stars Stadium in Ikenne. 

Both games of the second-round tie will be played there, because Comoros does not have a venue approved by the Confederation of African Football. The first leg is on Friday, October 9, and the return is on Tuesday, October 13.

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Omenazu now has a chance to break into the senior team. Okpe, a former Nigeria Under-20 forward, arrives after a good spell in Belarus. 

The 22-year-old, who used to play for Rivers Angels, moved to Dnepr Mogilev from Dinamo Minsk in April and has been one of the club's top scorers this season. She played for Nigeria at the 2022 FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup.

There are changes behind the scenes too. Sources told ESPN that Dr. Terry Eguaoje, the NFF's head of coaching education, has joined Eguavoen's technical team for these games. He is also a coach educator with US Soccer. 

He joins Christopher Danjuma, head coach of Nasarawa Amazons, and former Super Falcons defender Ayisat Yusuf as assistants. Olatunji Baruwa is the goalkeeper coach. Brenda Shima has also come in as media officer, replacing MaryCathryn Akinsola.

Nigeria skipped the first round of qualifying as one of the three highest-ranked teams. Comoros got through that round with a 30-0 aggregate win over Sudan.

The Super Falcons want to qualify for back-to-back Olympics after returning at Paris 2024 following a 16-year gap. They earned that place by beating South Africa 1-0 on aggregate in the last qualifying round. Before that, they had last played at the Games in Beijing in 2008.

The road to Los Angeles 2028 is a long one. Africa has two places, decided over four knockout rounds. If Nigeria beat Comoros, they go into the third round, where they would face either Morocco or the Democratic Republic of Congo.