Asisat Oshoala explains Nigeria’s penalty shootout absence against England

Asisat Oshoala has expressed her immense pride despite not being opportuned to take a penalty during Nigeria’s shootout loss to England in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The Super Falcons held the European champions to a barren draw after extra time before losing 4-2 on penalties and the disappointing shootout brought the West Africans campaign to an end Down Under.

Georgia Stanway missed the opening kick but Nigeria was unable to capitalized on it as Desire Oparanozie and Michelle Alozie followed suit with their missed penalties.

Former Super Falcons captain Oshoala, however was at the receiving end as football fans accused her of not stepping up when her team needed her the most, leaving the Barcelona star to do some explaining for her shootout absense.

“We actually just shared ourselves through,” she told SportsVille.

“One of our best penalty takers, that’s Desire [Oparanozie], she went first, Rash [Ajibade] went third, and I was going to take the last one, so we just shared it between ourselves like that.

“At the end of the day, anyone can miss a penalty. It’s a penalty, sometimes it’s luck. You might play 20 and score 20 one day, then the next day you play 30 and you miss all.

“It’s important we keep this team together because it’s not going to be easy to build another team.

“It took us years to build this team, and if we can keep this team together in good condition, and everyone takes responsibility for their actions, I feel like it will take us a long way.”