Michelle Alozie added a new title to her résumé this summer in addition to playing professional soccer for the Houston Dash and the Nigeria national team and studying pediatric leukemia as a researcher for Texas Children’s Hospital.
Alozie and Nigeria successfully accomplished their “Mission X” as it was dubbed by the Nigerian FA and won a record 10th Women’s African Cup of Nations trophy since the contest’s current format was established in 1998.
“We wanted to make history for all of women’s football,” Alozie said. “No team in women’s football has ever won a championship as many times as we have won this one. It wasn’t just Nigerian history or African history, it’s world history. We really bought into it as a team, and thankfully we were able to complete the mission.”
After Nigeria finished fourth in her cup debut in 2022, Alozie said it winning that much sweeter this time around.
“It meant everything to me,” she said. “Everyone who came back from that 2022 team kind of treated this like a revenge tour and to do it with the group we had, which had so many players making their debuts was special. I’m just happy and blessed to have been a part of such a special team.”
The 28-year-old earned a place in the tournament’s Best XI for her performance along with three of her fellow Super Falcons.
“It was a blessing to be named in the Best XI,” she said. “It showed how well my team and I had performed all tournament, especially in the knockout stages and how dominant we were. How we were able to play so cohesively as a team that so many players were also able to get individual honors like that.”
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