The Super Falcons of Nigeria will fly to the industrial and economic capital of Cameroon, Douala on Wednesday night for the first leg, third round Olympic qualifier with the Indomitable Lionnesses.
The Super Falcons last participated at the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament at Beijing 2008, where they lost 1-0 to both the North Korea and Germany in Shenyang, and 3-1 to Brazil to crash out at the group stage.
They failed to qualify for London 2012 losing on penalties to Cameroon in Yaounde after both teams finished the two legs in a stalemate.
Equatorial Guinea made the journey to Rio 2016 impossible and Cote d’Ivoire dumped the Falcons in the race to a place for Tokyo 2020.
After eliminating Ethiopia in the second round, the Super Falcons must now cross the Cameroonian hurdle to reach the final round of the African qualification series.
The first leg encounter will take place at the Stade de la Reunification in Douala Friday evening, with Ugandan official Shamirah Nabadda as referee.
Her compatriots Lydia Nantabo, Jane Mutonyi and Diana Murungi will serve as assistant referee 1, assistant referee 2 and fourth official.
Khadija Rezzag from Morocco will be the referee assessor while Lukusa Kanjinga from Democratic Republic of Congo will be the commissioner.
Coach Randy Waldrum has selected 21 players, who will all be on the trip to Douala, and then fly down to Abuja on Sunday morning for the return leg against the Lionesses, which will hold at the MKO Abiola National Stadium, Monday evening.
Waldrum and his assistants will lead the full squad on a training session at the main bowl of MKO Abiola National Stadium Wednesday evening before the departure to Douala.
The team will have their official training at the Stade de la Reunification in Douala on Thursday evening.
By Tuesday afternoon, only attacking midfielder Toni Payne and forward Uchenna Kanu were being expected at the team camp.