Despite her inspiring goal-scoring run at Barcelona, the reigning African women’s queen has not been able to translate that to the West Africans
Asisat Oshoala claims personal achievements are immaterial as long as the Nigerian women’s national team keep winning.
The Barcelona goal machine has been in grand form in the 2021-22 campaign – scoring nine times in her last eight fixtures for the Spaniards in all competition.
Despite her industry on the international scene, she has been unable to re-enact her Barcelona scoring form for the nine-time African champions, with her last Nigeria goals coming against Equatorial Guinea in February.
Against the Nzalang Femenino, Oshoala found the net on four occasions in the Super Falcons’ 9-0 in a Turkish Women’s Cup outing.
The 27-year-old’s inability to score against Ghana in Wednesday’s Africa Women’s Cup of Nations qualification in Lagos extended her international drought to six games.
Regardless, the former Liverpool and Arsenal star states the goals would come, insisting that victory for Randy Waldrum’s squad supersedes her individual aspirations.
“To be honest, I understand the emotion and everything that come from the fans,” Oshoala told Goal.
“It’s a beautiful thing that women’s football today is getting more attention to the point that the fans are expecting certain things from certain players.
“I am really happy about that but also, I need everyone to understand that sometimes in football, the team comes first, and individual feat can come in later.
“What delights me is the fact that we defeated Ghana and the fact that we will play the return leg with more confidence. Who says I can’t score in Ghana?
“To my fans who expected me to score in the first leg, I am sorry I didn’t give you guys goals, but I still have many games to play for the Super Falcons.”
Uchenna Kanu’s brace powered Nigeria to a 2-0 win over the Black Queens at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos.
Expectedly, Oshoala will shoulder the Falcons’ goalscoring responsibilities when they take on Mercy Tagoe-Quarcoo’s women in the reverse fixture on Sunday.
The winners on aggregate will square up against Niger Republic or Cote d’Ivoire in the second round.
Morocco 2022 will be used to determine Africa’s qualifiers for the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup billed for Australia and New Zealand.
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