Asisat Oshoala: Is it time for coach Randy Waldrum to drop former Barcelona star from Nigeria’s Super Falcons?

The reigning Africa Female Player of the Year delivered another disappointing performance against Cameroon on Friday

That Asisat Oshoala is one of the greatest Nigerian and African women to play football is not up for debate.

Oshoala is the only woman to have won the African Women’s Footballer of the Year award six times, the only African to win the UEFA Women’s Champions League twice, and the first to score in the final of the competition.

In five years at Barcelona, Oshoala helped the Catalans win 14 trophies, including two trebles. She scored 117 goals in 162 appearances, sealing her legacy at the club as the fourth-highest goalscorer in their history.

For Nigeria, Oshoala has been even more legendary.

The former Arsenal star, the best player at the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, has helped Nigeria win three Africa Cup of Nations titles. She won the Golden Ball and Golden Boot in the title-winning squad of the 2014 and 2016 editions, respectively.

Oshoala has scored in all the major tournaments she has featured in for Nigeria, including three goals at the FIFA Women’s World Cup and 13 at the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations.

She has been extraordinary.

And by the time she calls it quits with her career, there will be little doubt in the hearts of many that Oshoala is the greatest African female football ever.

However, while Oshoala has been consistently excellent at the club level over the past decade or more, there has been a noticeable decline in her output at the international level.

Since making her Super Falcons debut in 2013, Oshoala has been Nigeria’s number-one striker. She has played in 61 games, scoring an incredible 37 goals.

Curiously, though, Oshoala has scored only three of those goals in the last three years.

The 29-year-old forward found the net in Nigeria’s 3-0 win over Haiti in Turkey last April. She struck again in the 3-2 victory over Australia at the World Cup and netted the third goal in the 4-0 whooping of Ethiopia in Abuja on October 31st.

More worrying than Oshoala’s lack of goals for the national team is her ‘big-madam attitude’ on the pitch.

Oshoala is no longer the high-pressing, relentless, no-gree-for-any-defender, ruthless striker that once was a nightmare for goalkeepers on the African continent.

These days, Oshoala is often captured on screen strolling around the pitch while her younger teammates run around looking to create chances for her.

And when the chances come, as they sometimes do, Oshoala does not convert them often enough as she once used to.

Against Cameroon in the 2024 Olympic Games qualifier in Douala on Friday, Oshoala dropped another stinker: no goal, no assist, no shot on target, no dangerous play that potentially threatened to lead to goal.

Nigeria’s best chances in the encounter came from the fine plays of other not-as-talented but hungrier footballers.

Toni Payne ran herself to the ground. Substitute Ifeoma Onumonu showed more desire in five minutes than Oshoala did all night. Ajibade was as tireless as ever.

Oshoala’s biggest highlight against the Indomitable Lionesses came when she was seen strolling back from the back post as Esther Okoronkwo scored Nigeria’s goal that was wrongly ruled out for offside.

While it is admirable that Oshoala has won her place among the greatest players in history, she still needs to consistently merit her spot in the Super Falcons’ starting eleven each time Nigeria play.

Oshoala remains an important figure in the national team, no doubt, but there is a feeling that Uchenna Kanu, Gift Monday, or even Jennifer Echegini could offer more in attack.

To retain their status as Africa’s best, reclaim their crown at the WAFCON, and make it to the Olympic Games for the first time in 16 years, the Super Falcons must give their best at all times.

Sadly, the team has not looked at its best in attack for most of the last three years.

While it may not be the right time yet to say goodbye to Oshoala on the international scene, this is the right moment to give some talented younger ones the chance to start games ahead of the new Bay FC forward.

Oshoala starting a few Super Falcons games on the bench could help her rediscover the fire in her belly that propelled her to such unmatched career heights.

It would be a delightful sight to see the best of Oshoala at Morocco 2024 and Paris 2024.

Giving opportunities to others could also be the beginning of life after Oshoala for the national team – an unpleasant but inevitable phase. 

Coach Randy Walrdum has enough options in attack to make the post-Oshoala era in the Super Falcons a successful one. The transition phase to that period had better begin now.

N. B: Do you agree that Asisat Oshoala should no longer be the number-one striker for the Super Falcons? Leave your comments below.