Super Falcons battle Cameroun for final ticket
The football rivalry between Nigeria and Cameroun will again take centre stage today when the Super Falcons go head-on with the Indomitable Lionesses in the first semi-final match of the ongoing Africa Women’s Championship taking place in South Africa.The match is billed for the Sinaba stadium in Daveyton with kick-off fixed for 9.30am (local time).
Already many have predicted a tough game for the Falcons who are aiming to regain the African title they lost to Equatorial Guinea last time out. But the team’s coach Eucharia Uche is confident ahead of the tie.
“I am very optimistic about our chances of doing very well in the competition. Like I said before, I have the team that can deliver at any moment. Yes, there is rivalry between Nigeria and Cameroun. It has always been there. It is normal and can only go on to bring out the best in us. The Camerounians know us and we know them too. It will be a tough match, no doubt about that, but I am sure we will have the upper hand in the end,” Uche said.
The Super Falcons have won all the three matches played so far in the tournament scoring an impressive ten goals and conceding just one.
The Nigerian ladies have also won all her games against Cameroun at previous editions of the tournament with the biggest win being a 6-0 drubbing in the 1998 edition of the biennial championships.
Battle for supremacy
Enow Ngachu, Coach of Cameroun, has boasted that Nigeria’s Super Falcons cannot thwart his team’s ambition of playing in the final of the African Women Championship and qualifying for next year’s World Cup in Germany.
“I won’t lose a game here,” he said. “I am playing to the final and getting set to lift the cup. Our aim is to qualify for the World Cup in Germany and to do that, we must play to the final and in the process, we will not lose a single game,” he said.
“My expectation is for us to win the match and advance to the final because our dream is to do our best and make sure we win the tournament. We are not scared of them, we are ready for them, this is a game of football and the match would determine who is better. All I know is that we are well prepared for the game”.
South Africa vs Equatorial Guinea
Hosts, South Africa will be up against defending champions Equatorial Guinea in the other semi final match later in the day. The South African Football Association (SAFA) has offered the national women’s team a mouth-watering R1-million (about N220m) incentive if they win the CAF Women’s Championships. The Banyana Banyana will share the money if they win the tournament, while a second place berth will earn them R500 000. The country’s FA boss, Kirsten Nematandani has praised Banyana Banyana for good job thus far while also appealing to them to seize the moment.
“There is no better time than now for our girls, and we are saying to them seize the moment. First let’s congratulate them for qualifying for the semi-final of this tough competition and add that there is no perfect opportunity to qualify for the Women’s World Cup than now. We believe in them and we know they can do it. As SAFA, and South Africans in general, we are behind them and are very optimistic that they will do well on Thursday. We are hoping they will be able to achieve their dreams of qualifying for their first ever World Cup tournament. We will like to thank all football lovers for the support they have given to our girls and urge them to continue coming in numbers to spur Banyana Banyana on in their quest for glory,” Nematandan told safa.net, the football federation’s website.
Posted by Darey
on 3:14 AM. Filed under