{"id":68891,"date":"2025-06-24T08:40:36","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T08:40:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=68891"},"modified":"2025-06-24T08:40:36","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T08:40:36","slug":"wafcon-2024-madugu-explains-monday-gifts-omission-from-super-falcons-squad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/06\/24\/wafcon-2024-madugu-explains-monday-gifts-omission-from-super-falcons-squad\/","title":{"rendered":"WAFCON 2024: Madugu Explains Monday Gift\u2019s Omission from Super Falcons Squad"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Njoku Chijioke<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Super Falcons head coach, Justine Madugu, has defended his decision to exclude in-form forward Monday Gift from Nigeria\u2019s 24-player squad for the 2024 Women\u2019s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), citing regulatory and tactical considerations.<\/p>\n<p>Gift, who has been outstanding for Washington Spirit in the U.S. National Women\u2019s Soccer League (NWSL), was a surprise omission.<\/p>\n<p>However, Madugu clarified that the decision was not based on form but on CAF\u2019s squad size restrictions and a comprehensive evaluation process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe conducted a detailed analysis of every position, looking at strengths, weaknesses, and player versatility. It\u2019s not just about Gift; there were several players we would have loved to include, but we had to make tough choices,\u201d Madugu said.<\/p>\n<p>He also addressed rumors regarding striker Asisat Oshoala\u2019s commitment to the national team, emphasizing that her earlier absence was due to permit issues.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt wasn\u2019t that Asisat wasn\u2019t willing to play. There were documentation constraints. She remains a valuable asset to the team,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>The Super Falcons will play Portugal in a warm-up friendly on June 23 before facing Tunisia, Botswana, and Algeria in Group B of the tournament. The team is aiming for a historic 10th WAFCON title in Morocco.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Njoku Chijioke &nbsp; Super Falcons head coach, Justine Madugu, has defended his decision to exclude in-form forward Monday Gift from Nigeria\u2019s 24-player squad for the 2024 Women\u2019s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), citing regulatory and tactical considerations. Gift, who has been outstanding for Washington Spirit in the U.S. National Women\u2019s Soccer League (NWSL), was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":68892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68891"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68893,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68891\/revisions\/68893"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}