Super Falcons defender Ashleigh Plumptre is already setting her sights on the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris npflupdates.com. understands.
Ashleigh Plumptre was part of the Super Eagles squad at the ongoing 2023 FIFA women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Interestingly she featured in all the four games of the national team until they were eliminated by England’s Lionesses.
And according to the former Leicester City women’s defender, it was bad being eliminated by England. And her statement can be traced back to the fact that she was once with the England’s Lionesses at age-grade football.
Also read: Super Falcons Were Very Good, Will Get Their Deserved Prize – NFF
“After the England game I just felt so grateful to have played in it,” she told BBC in an interview.
“In the build-up I felt like the worst way for us to leave the tournament would be losing to England and then going on a plane back to England, but in fact I honestly wouldn’t have changed any of it.
“It was obviously disappointing in the end because we were so close.”
Speaking further she insisted that Nigeria had better chances of defeating England. And especially the opportunity presented itself when England were reduced to ten following a Lauren James’ red card. But, the African ladies failed to capitalize on the opportunity of having more hands.
“We had better chances than them and created more opportunities, but that’s football.”
Super Falcons set sights on Summer Olympics in Paris
Interestingly, the former WAFCON champions will kickstart their Olympics qualifier against Ethiopia in October. And a win against the East African country will boost the team’s confidence and chances of being at the Olympics for the first time in over a decade.
“This is now the benchmark for us,” she continued.
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“The expectation is that we compete with these teams all the time, hopefully, we have proven that,” she added.