The Super Falcons’ bid to qualify for the 2022 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations received a major boost yesterday following a 2-0 victory over perennial rivals, Black Queens of Ghana at the Mobolaji Johnson stadium, Lagos.
From the blast of the whistle, Nigeria appeared ready for the challenge as they engaged their hosts who deployed physicality to curtail them.
In the 18th minute, Kanu Uchena missed an opportunity to open the scoring after failing to latch onto a tailored pass from Francisca Ordega.
But she made up for the miss in the 22nd minute after Ordega squared played with her to break the hearts of the Ghanaians.
With the euphoria of the first goal yet to die down, Kanu and Ordega again combined very well to make it 2-0 which apparently led the Black Queens to devise crude means to bring the Nigerians down.
Towards the end of the first half, Ordega who was the stand out player for the Super Falcons was tactically fouled. It was more like taking her out of action to prevent her from causing more damage.
At the restart of the second half, the Falcons appeared to be relaxed as goalkeeper, Nnadozie Chiamaka, was called to action a couple of times.
Efforts by the Ghanaians to get back into the game failed as the Nigerians kept them at bay and ensured the game ended 2-0 ahead of the second leg on October 24.
Since the inception of the tournament in 1991, the Super Falcons have not missed an edition, whereas the Black Queens failed to qualify for the 2012 competition staged in Equatorial Guinea.
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