The Super Falcons of Nigeria have qualified for the 2022 African Women’s Cup of Nations after edging Côte d’Ivoire 1-0 in Abidjan in the second leg of the play-off round, Completesports.com reports.
Esther Okoronkwo got the only goal of the game after scoring in the 87th minute to earn the Falcons a 3-0 aggregate win.
Recall the Falcons won the first leg 2-0 at the Moshood Abiola Stadium a few days back thanks to a brace from Ifeoma Onumonu.
Côte d’Ivoire had a chance to reduce the deficit on 44 minutes when they were awarded a penalty but Chiamaka Nnadozie made a brilliant save to keep the score goalless.
Also Read: Ghanaian Midfielder Rates Nigerian Player Best In Turkish Super Lig
The reigning WAFCON champions are the latest team to qualify for this year’s edition which will hold in July.
The other teams who have so far qualified are hosts Morocco, Uganda, Burundi, Zambia, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia and Burkina Faso.
Africa’s representatives for the 2023 FIFA women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand will emerge from the 2022 WAFCON.
By James Agberebi
28 Comments
Congratulations to our girls. To win away in Cote d’voir is no mean fit. And also having clean sheet in back to back games is also something to celebrate. Our keeper saving a Penalty is very impressive.
This is definitely signs of something good to come. This is what having your best legs irrespective of were they are born can bring to your team. Congrats to Super Falcons, the Coaching crew, NFF and all Nigerian fans.
The Super Falcons coach knows his onions very well. Rohr would have spilled rubbish if he was in their shoes. Congratulations Lasses! You have made us proud like the D Tigress.
That we never get to see the Super Falcons on TV is typical OFF treachery
The Falcons have landed.
Goalie Nnadozie doing it again.
Good one, everybody.
Congrats!
Rorh qualified us for Afcon with 2 games to spare so what are you saying old man?
Don’t mind the idiot always try to hit up polity by mentioning Rohrin everything. How does this concern Rohr?
We Nigerian fan we like trouble. When are we going to move on from Rohr? Are we not going to leave the man along.
Instead of us to use our energy to complain about a world cup qualification format that has resulted in the elimination of strong teams like Ghana and Ivory Coast in the female world cup. We are busy shouting Rohr for everything that happens to Nigeria’s football. Make we let the man rest abeg.
It’s not only in WAFCON qualifiers. Even the U 17 too. CAR are a bunch of confused people. Imagine Nigeria, Ghana, CIV, Senegal always in the same group because of West Africa Zone A or B. Ahmad Ahmad undone African football for this stupid decision. Hayatou would never have done that. I miss Haha you for this.
That we never get to see the Super Falcons on TV is typical NFF treachery
My brother, big one for that matter Knowing how important the game was, and seeing how the referee misbehaved grossly in the first leg..No foreign media showed the match and Nigerians are always busy showing other peoples league matches.
_Waldrum Powers Falcons to Wafcon_
Randy Waldrum’s Super Falcons have undoubtedly put a smile on the faces of Nigeria fans by breezing, quite literally, into the Afcon finals with a home and away decapitation of the Lady Elephants of Ivory Coast this February.
The first leg ended 2:0 at home on Friday and the second leg concluded with a nail biting, hard fought 1:0 win after the Falcons overcame a penalty scare in the first half in Abidjan.
In the 44th minute, Super Falcons fans’ hearts were in our mouths as the Lady Elephants were awarded a penalty. It happened like slow motion in a Hollywood movie as charming Chiamaka Nnadozie guessed right to dive to her right with a ruthless parry that kept the pendulum still very much swinging in Nigeria’s favour.
To be honest, in my synopsis of the first match, I had observed that late tackles inside the 18 yard box could leave the Nigerian ladies biting their fingers and something similar almost proved costly here.
Mercifully, Nigeria survived on this occasion with Esther Okoronkwo delivering the Kiss-of-Death in dying embers of the game for her first goal for her country in 3 outings. The Abia born bomber blew everyone away with her uncluttered finish.
And 3:0 on aggregate it ended which is a bloody brilliant aggregate scoreline owing to the calibre of the opposition.
Personally, as a West African, it hurts my heart to see an effervescent Ivory Coast and a gracious Ghana miss the Wafcon finals as a result of a ludicrous qualification framework that results in continental powerhouses knocking themselves out in qualifiers.
These sort of duels should be mouthwatering blockbuster encounters reserved for the tournament proper.
And now that we are in the tournament, despite the best (or worst) intentions of CAF, the question for me is: will Randy Waldrum be able to arrest the steady decline that Nigeria has been experiencing in the tournament in recent times?
You see, although the Super Falcons won 4 of the last 5 tournaments, a closer inspection of the scorelines underscore a team on a downward trajectory:
Nigeria vs Equatorial Guinea: 4-2 (2010)
Nigeria vs Cameroon: 2:0 (2014)
Nigeria vs Cameroon: 1:0 (2016)
Nigeria vs South Africa : 0:0 (2018), 4-3 penalty win.
So, the Super Falcons are winning but with less and less goals to the point of not being able to score in 2018.
So, all eyes will be on Waldrum to see how he prosecutes this tournament in the summer. The American comes across to me as a very pragmatic coach. Also, there has to be a connection between having his as the gaffer and the unprecedented glut of dual nationalities now so willing, able and hungry to represent Nigeria.
His avuncular nature seems to serve as a global magnet sucking out all available dual nationality players from every nook and cranny of the globe.
It is truly remarkable that this squad that bamboozled Ivory Coast is arguably slightly under-strength, more so in the first leg where the likes of Oparanozie, Ordega, Zogg and Oshoala were conspicuous in their absence, and more goals were scored.
In his alchemy of success, Waldrum is not short of pragmatism, in fact he has that in excess. If only he can add a bit of poise and panache to his cocktail of practicality and expediency, we may just witness a team that will not only get the job done, but will do it in a Limousine (now, won’t that be beautiful?).
But for now, Randy and his girls have done yeoman’s job against Ivory Coast and Ghana across 4 legs – something they can be proud of, something to which the fans are immensely grateful.
Oga Deo, go and apply for job with CSN or soccernet and become their writer/editor there, stop all this your long boring epistle. Better still you can apply as football analyst with Supersport.
Bros you call this beautiful and intelligent analysis boring ?..I pity youooo, go drink tea abeg !!
Write up that I read and at the end it seems I watch the match live, change your dealer bro. Appreciate good stuff when you see one. Nothing do you jare @deo
I love your analysis
Good job deo. Hopefully, the coach understands what it takes to keep the Super Falcons on the upward movement.
One lesson I have learnt from this encounter is that every team is as good as it’s good keeper in the face of an opponent of equal prowess. I wish SE have a goal a keep in the mould of chiamaka AnodaZie. Without a good goal keeper the chances of SE going over Ghana are slim. Ghana can defend with the last drop of their blood and take us on counters just like Tunisia. Shots can come from outside the box in that kind of game.Whr is Vincent Iyama. Whr is Peter Rofai, Who will man the post for SE. ? The search for a reliable good keeper for SE must start now. O
Wear gloves and man the post for us that day, after all you are a Nigerian. @442
@Ola, he made a valid point here ooopp. we need a very good goal keeper against Ghana not Okoye. I think Uzoho might come and deliver us oooo. With Uzoho, we have a great chance against Ghana.
People did not notice how jittery Okoye was at AFCON. Against Egypt he was so nervous but his confi grew as the game developed and went on to deny Salah.
Would have preferred Akpeyi because he has featured in many derbies and most especially Kaizer Chief versus Orlando Pirates but the guys confi is unpredictable.
This was an unnecessary comment. He made a very good point. If you watched the first leg, the keeper saved our blushes on many occasions. Today too. If Okoye was that good against Tunisia, we would have won the game.
I disagree with thou my Friend. Deo, I always look forward to reading your comments all the time because you’re faultless in you analysis most time.
@ Ola, I feel we should encourage Deo and not the other way round.
gone were the days when Facons trashes team by 6 or 7 goals unreply…this is telling us that even women’s game has improved tremendously and no more minors both in male and female games…in other words …it’s not an easy task for our ladies to beat the core devoirs home and away, they deserve to be celebratied big times. CONGRATULATIONS SUPER SUPER FALCONS.
If my memory serves me well, this team stop our falcons from participating in the last Olympic so, it’s good not to underate any team. well done galant ladies
Well,leave Rohr out of this.Rohr is gone but I don’t believe Rohr would have exited AFCON at the round of 16.He knew how to grind out results not somebody who only thinks of how his team will play but does not mind or think about how his opponents will play or if they also have a coach/tactician
Moshood Abiola stadium in Abuja. Beginning of good news to come.
No honestly, I give up for @deo when it comes to analysis in this forum, he is a legend! But sometimes when it becomes too long, it becomes boring..
You too like wahala hahaha..leave @deo to do his analysis. You wey sey analayze upside dan nko
*dey*
It becomes boring because you can’t read , that is how you failed all your exams !!..sport analysis is like literature , you have to make sure that every details is well laid out to enable the reader flow with the events !!