14th Women AFCON: The Battle of Casablanca: Super Falcons vs Lionesses of Cameroon
With a ticket to next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup finals at stake, champions Nigeria will take no prisoners when they confront neighbours and rivals Cameroon in a potentially-explosive Women Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final duel in Casablanca on Sunday.
Both teams clash again in this most crucial stage four years after the Super Falcons pipped the Lionesses 1-0 to book their ticket to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in Down Under, courtesy of a second-half decisive header by Rasheedat Ajibade.
Cameroon’s Lionesses have been one of the Falcons’ most regular victims in the history of the Women AFCON, dating back to the inaugural edition in 1998 that Nigeria hosted, with the Lionesses hammered by six goals in Kaduna.
Both teams played the final matches of the 2014 and 2016 Women AFCON. The Lionesses were the worse for wear in Windhoek on 25th October 2014, with Desire Oparanozie and Asisat Oshoala scoring for a 2-0 win for the Falcons. Two years later, with Cameroon as hosts, Oparanozie’s late goal settled a gritty encounter inside Yaounde’s Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo.
Earlier this year, the Super Falcons were again in Yaounde, for a two-match tour. The Lionesses picked a rare win in the first leg (1-0), but then got flogged 3-1 in the second, with goals by Chinwendu Ihezuo, Rinsola Babajide and Michelle Alozie – who are all in Casablanca.
Last year, ahead of their successful Mission X campaign, the Falcons defeated the Lionesses 2-0 in a friendly game at the MKO Abiola Sports Arena in Abeokuta.
Coach Justin Madugu may retain the squad that put six goals past Egypt in their final Group C match in Rabat on Wednesday, with veteran Asisat Oshoala a possible starter after a clutch of goal-scoring outings in Morocco. Her early strike proved the match-winner against the feisty Zambians in Nigeria’s second match, and her strike from the spot set the Falcons on the way to victory over the Cleopatras. The highly-decorated forward also scored twice in the two friendlies against Senegal in Ikenne-Remo ahead of this tournament.
Madugu, who will welcome back defender Tosin Demehin and midfielder Jennifer Echegini (suspended for the win over Egypt), said: “Our objective remains picking the World Cup ticket and then going ahead to retain the trophy. Nothing has changed.”
Sunday’s clash commences at 6pm at the Stade Larbi Zaouli in Casablanca – the venue where the Falcons played most of their matches on the way to a successful Mission X campaign a year ago.
