Super Falcons defender Ashleigh Plumptre says they are battle ready for the clash with the Copper Queens of Zambia, reports Completesports.com.
Nigeria, and Zambia will do battle in what is expected to be a thrilling quarter-final encounter at the Larbi Zaouli Stadium, Casablanca on Friday.
The Super Falcons were last in action in the 0-0 draw with Algeria on Sunday.
Plumptre said the players are in good spirit ahead of the game.
“Preparations are going well. Compared to the group stage, we have a little bit more time between games so that has put us in a good position,” the centre-back told a press conference on Thursday.
” We’ve been on the training field the last two days and we’re training again today. Everybody is in really good spirits. The preparation is going well and overall the atmosphere in the camp is calm but exciting at the same time.”
The Super Falcons finished top of Group B with seven points from three games.
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The Al-Ittihad Ladies of Saudi Arabia player reflected on the team’s performance.
“I didn’t know people were looking at it like that but obviously we were really proud to go through the group stage and not concede,” Plumptre added.
“As much as we have such good attacking threat both starting and the subs coming in as well, we do take pride holistically as a team to defend well, and protect our goal well.”
“I think you can tell in our games that we all defend as one and we try to attack as one. It’s not like that we’re relying on one sole goal scorer. We have threats from numerous places so I think that puts us in a good position against a team like this.”
The Copper Queens have scored seven goals in the competition.
Their attacking duo Barbara Banda, and Rachel Kundananji have scored three goals apiece.
“Obviously we know that Zambia have really good attacking threats and we respect that, and we’re prepared for that. But we don’t prepare for two players, we prepare for Zambia as a whole team, ” Plumptre declared.
“We know that if you get consumed with two players, they can have threats that come from different aspects, which is, I think, the same for us as well.”
By Adeboye Amosu
2 Comments
Thrilling quarter-final encounter !!! This should be an easy win for Nigeria.
Who is Zambia anyway???
I don’t think Zambia or any team should be taken for granted. But, as much as I question aspects of the coaching competency of Coach Madugu, I believe the team are at home with his 4-3-3 formation and offensive approach.
Should they apply themselves with focus, concentration and discipline tomorrow, then they should be able to fashion out the victory.