Midfielder Jennifer Echegini is confident that the Super Falcons will do well at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, despite their difficult group pairings. Nigeria will compete against Spain, Japan, and Brazil.

Spain, the current world champions, and Japan, former world titleholders, along with the football powerhouse Brazil, pose formidable challenges for the Falcons.

Echegini, recently signed by Paris Saint-Germain, remains optimistic about their chances.

“I feel like as Nigeria or any other African team, they underestimate our football ability and they kind of just base us off strength and speed,” she told Beats and Rhymes FC.

“It’s always ‘oh they are strong and powerful’, but we can also play.”

She added, “I feel like a lot of times, teams don’t expect that, and they’ll be surprised when we start playing around them.

‘I prefer if they don’t expect it because it makes things easier for us, but whenever I hear people talking about Nigeria, it’s always ‘strong’ or ‘fast’, and I’m like, ‘we’re not just that, you know?’”

Echegini insists that many Nigerian players have the same football upbringing as their counterparts in England and the Netherlands.

“A lot of us grew up playing the exact same way as those England girls or the Dutch girls, so it’s kind of funny when people say we’re just speed and strength.

“We went through the same process growing up, we just chose to represent the Nigerian team.”

The Super Falcons are poised to make a statement in Paris, after excellent campaign at the FIFA World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Nigeria reached the last 16 before losing England in the penalty shoot out.