Captain Igbokwe was a colossal loss due to her leadership and energetic ball-winning attributes, while AbdulWahab, Igbokwe’s teammate at Nasarawa Amazons in the NWFL, is a creative spark whose passing range could have cut through a stubborn Colombia.
Despite their absence, the Falconets recorded the 2026 highest tournament win with a 10-1 victory over New Caledonia, and the Moses Aduku-led ladies sent England’s young Lionesses packing in a shocking but well-deserved 3-0 win.
The team was seconds from forcing extra-time against Colombia despite a second half red card, but conceded in the 92nd minute to crash out at the last-eight stage.
However, their absence was ultimately felt, and Colin Udoh, a former media officer of the Super Eagles, has claimed that both players lied during their visa interview at the Polish embassy.
According to his post on social media platform X, Udoh revealed that multiple officials in the Nigeria football federation confirmed both Igbokwe and AbdulWahab failed to provide a honest response multiple times to a question asked during the visa interview.
“They were asked the same question three times, and each time, they were not honest with their answers, even when that answer was on the computer in front of the visa officer.”
Udoh, who is married to Super Falcons legend, Mercy Akide, however, refrained from revealing the question, but added that the intervention of NFF officials and subsequent appeals did not yield a positive response due to the lack of sincerity from the players.
Igbokwe was named Nasarawa Amazons’ player of the season, and made the NWFL team of the season, while AbdulWahab starred for Nigeria’s women under-17 Flamingos at the 2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in the Dominican Republic before he was promoted to the Under-20 team
