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Atletico Madrid Femeni of Spain attacker, Rasheedat Ajibade is relishing the goal she scored for Nigeria’s Super Falcons in a 2-2 draw against Canada early Tuesday, megasportsarena.com reports.
A message was also posted on social media by the Falcons’ media unit to praise the players for their spirited performance and to all fans that rooted for the team during the second of two high-profile international friendlies against the team they beat 2-1 at the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Ajibade and Ifeoma Onumonu got the goals that fetched Nigeria a resurgent stalemate with their hosts in Victoria BC, four days after the reigning African champions lost 2-0 to the same team.
It was a different ball game in the early hours of Tuesday against the reining Olympic Games champions, as the Falcons recovered from their first defeat to complete their friendly tour with a draw at Starlight Stadium.
With renewed gusto, revived zeal and spirited drive buoyed by energetic words from their America coach, Randy Waldrum, the Falcons went into the new game with a lot of confidence and they took a deserved lead courtesy of Onumonu in the fifth minute.
Canada equalized through Christine Margaret Sinclair before the Falcons regained their lead in the 53rd minute via Ajibade, but the hosts salvaged a draw after Shelina Zadorsky scored in the 88th minute.
The Falcons looked the most settled side in the opening stages and they raced to an early lead when Onumonu produced a cheeky backheel off a Toni Payne corner past Kailen Sheridan.
In the 11th minute, Canada almost drew level when Nichelle Prince combined well with Quinn before putting through on goal Jessie Fleming, but her effort was punched out by Falcons’ goalkeeper, Chiamaka Nnadozie.
Four minutes later, Michelle Alozie was forced to put her body on the line to deny Fleming and in the 18th minute, Nnadozie pulled another great save to deny the advancing Sinclair in a one-on-one situation.
In the 28th minute, it was the turn of Nigeria’s captain, Onome Ebi to keep her team in the game, as she produced a spectacular dive to divert a powerful left-footed shot from Janine Beckie.
The Super Falcons held on despite a flurry of attacks from Canada to head into the half-time break leading 1-0.
On resumption, Canada kept pressing for the leveller and it finally arrived with only four minutes played when poor defending allowed Sinclair to chip the ball over Nnadozie.
It took the Falcons four minutes to regain their lead when Ajibade scored from close range, and in the 66th minute, the woodwork saved Nigeria after a great effort from Sinclair.
Though the Falcons held on and looked set to snatch victory, they crumbled just two minutes to the final whistle, their defence cracked yet again to allow Zadorsky to head home a cross from Beckie past Nnadozie, who had an outstanding game.
A message posted via @NGSuper_Falcons noted: “FT in Langford| Great team performance against the Olympic Champions and good test for us. Thank you to our amazing supporters.”
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