Esther Okoronkwo to Super Falcons teammates: ‘We must play as a team to win’

By Saheed Afolabi

Nigeria national team forward, Esther Okoronkwo has urged her teammates to play together as a team and shun individualities as they face Women’s World cup co-host New Zealand in a friend game in Turkey on Tuesday.

The Saint-Étienne forward’s winner against Cote d’Ivoire secured Nigeria spot at the 2022 WAFCON and also was the heroine in a 1-0 win against Costa Rica at the Revelations Cup in Mexico, ending a seven-game losing streak.

Having opened the scoring against Haiti, the 26-year-old American born forward is optimistic of a great outing against New Zealand as she stresses that they must play as a unit to get the job done.

“We are ready for New Zealand we just have to come out play like we did, stay together, play for each other because when we work together as a team, the sky is the limit,” Okoronkwo told NFF TV.

“We have amazing players individually, and compare again individuals is not going to win trophies not until we try to come as a team and play together as a team.

“The vibe is great, amazing, everyone is really going along. We love each other and we fight for each other. We have got great people around us encouraging us on and off the field as well.”

The Super Falcons will square up against New Zealand on Tuesday 11th of April 2023 by 2pm Nigeria time.

The Nigeria senior national team will open their FIFA World Cup campaign against Canada on the 21st of July at 3:30am Nigeria time.