It is 14 July 2022, and Cameroon are taking on Nigeria in the quarter-finals of the CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations. Dominating play, the Indomitable Lionesses are rocked in the 56th minute, when Rasheedat Ajibade, the blue-haired Super Falcon, scores the only goal of the game to sent Nigeria to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™.

That defeat dealt a bitter blow to Cameroon and dented their self-confidence. Morale then hit an all-time low in February 2023, when they missed their second chance to go to Australia & New Zealand 2023 by losing the Play-off Tournament final, suffering a 2-1 defeat to Portugal. A few months later, they failed to qualify for the 2024 Women’s AFCON.

Now, the Indomitable Lionesses are hoping to turn the page and secure a place at the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament Paris 2024. Olympic qualification would be a fitting swansong for the generation of Gabrielle Aboudi Onguene and Ajara Nchout Njoya, but more importantly the chance for new phenomena such as Michaely Bihina to come of age.

Still just 20, the gifted goalkeeper, who plays for Racing Power FC in Portugal, is a worthy heir to a long line of excellent Cameroon No1s. “It’s true that I have a lot of role models that I can identify with,” she told FIFA.com in an exclusive interview. “In Cameroon, there’s a lot of competition for this position, and that motivates me to never stop working and progressing.”

An impassioned and reassuring presence, Bihina is now tasked with stopping Nigeria in their double header in the third round of Olympic qualifying on 23 and 26 February. At stake is a place in the fourth and final round, which will decide Africa’s two representatives at Paris 2024.

It is worth noting that, in 10 encounters, Cameroon have only beaten Nigeria twice. However, the teams’ head-to-head matters little to Bihina, one of the spearheads of this new and fearless pack of Indomitable Lionesses, who are determined to write a new chapter in the history of their national team, starting with victory over the Super Falcons.