Nine-time African champions Super Falcons of Nigeria will fly to the United States of America for a two-match tour against the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) in the month of September.
Both teams, presently competing in their respective continental tournaments, will clash at the Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas on 3rd September and then have a go at each other’s jugular once more at the Audi Field in Washington, D. C. on 6th September.
The USWNT is the most successful team in the FIFA Women’s World Cup, having won half (4) of all eight championships competed for so far. The Stars & Stripes were champions of the very first edition in China in 1991, and then won on home soil in 1999, in Canada in 2015 and in France three years ago. The team has also won four Olympic women’s football gold medals and eight CONCACAF titles.
The Super Falcons, billed to face Cameroon in the quarter-finals of the ongoing Women’s Africa Cup of Nations on Thursday evening, have won the African championship nine times, played in every edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup and also played at the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympic women’s football tournament. They remain the most successful women’s team on the African continent.
Read Also: WAFCON 2022: Super Falcons Fired Up For Cameroon Clash – Ebi
The Children’s Mercy Park is home to Kansas City in the US National Women’s Soccer League and Sporting Kansas City in the Major League Soccer, while Audi Field is utilized by National Women’s Soccer League side Washington Spirit and Major League Soccer team, D. C. United.
The match in Kansas City will see Vlatko Andonovski, appointed Coach of USWNT at the end of 2019, return to his home area for the second time. It is the sixth time that the USWNT will be playing at the Children’s Mercy Park but it is their first time at the Audi Field, though they have played 10 times previously in Washington – all at the RFK Stadium.
Andonovski says he’s excited to send out his girls against the Super Falcons: “First, I’m just excited to play two matches against Nigeria. They have some very talented players who will present a lot of different problems for us to solve on both sides of the ball.
Secondly, of course we’re looking forward to bringing the team back to one of the best soccer stadiums in the United States in Kansas City, as well as getting to play our first game at Audi Field, which I’ve visited several times for NWSL games and is also a fantastic venue for our team to play in front of our home fans.”
The USWNT has already qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, becoming the 12th team to reach the finals and the first team from the CONCACAF region.
Nigeria’s Falcons are also coached by an American, long-time college coach Randy Waldrum – who is aiming for a FIFA Women’s World Cup ticket and first African title with Nigeria in Morocco.
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This friendly will come just before the Falcons’ encounter with former Women’s World Cup Champions Japan in October.
Recall that that Falcons also played World Cup Contenders Canada earlier this year. Kudos to whomever is organising this truly impressive world class friendlies for our serial Wafcon winners.
But the matter at hand now is today’s Wafcon quarter final again bitter rivals Cameroon. Both teams started slow in the tournament but have picked up the pace.
Thanks to contrivances by CAF, one of these two powerhouses run the risk of missing out on the world cup whereas debutants Zambia and Morocco have booked their tickets to Australia and New Zealand.
Even as minnows Botswana still have a back-door chance of qualifying for the World Cup, CAF’s cunning region-based structural qualification formula effectively stopped heavyweights Ivory Coast and Ghana from even making it to the Wafcon, let alone qualify for the World Cup.
Hopefully Wafu football leaders will one day rouse from their slumber and push for measures to end such a criminal qualifying formula once and for all.