Nigeria’s senior female football team, the Super Falcons, defeated Cape Verde 2-1 at the Santiago-Estádio Nacional Cabo Verde stadium to qualify for the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in Morocco.
The result means that nine-time African champions qualified on a 7-1 aggregate score after recording a 5-0 victory in the first-leg encounter played at the MKO Abiola National Stadium.
The hosts opened the scoring in the 9th minute when Ivania Tavares Moreira got the ball past goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie.
But the resilient Super Falcons proved their superiority, spurred on by members of the Nigerian community cheering in the stands.
A couple of corner kicks and free-kicks as the Falcons pressed hard and dominated play, but the host maintained the 1-0 in the first half.
Super Falcons coach Justin Madugu bought in Esther Onyenezide and the clinical Esther Okoronkwo at the beginning of the second half, for Peace Efih and Uchenna Kanu, and it almost paid off as Okoronkwo got the ball into the net 11 minutes into the second half, only to be judged off-side.
Read also 2024 WAFCON: Coach Madugu invites 21 players for Falcons clash against Cape Verde
Again, Okoronkwo, who got two of the goals when the Falcons brushed aside the Verdeans 5-0 in Abuja on Thursday, scored to draw Nigeria level.
Super Falcons captain Rasheedat Ajibade saw her shot fly past the crossbar in the 71st minute, and 10 minutes later, substitute Rinsola Babajide could have got her first international goal but saw her low drive agonizingly miss the target by a few inches.
Atletico Madrid attacking midfielder Ajibade scored the winning goal deep in stoppage time to seal Nigeria’s 100 per cent record over Cape Verde.
The Super Falcons have now qualified for every edition of the WAFCON since it started in 1998 in Nigeria. The nine-time African champions joined 11 other countries who have qualified for the 2024 WAFCON
The teams that have picked qualification tickets for next year’s WAFCON are the host nation Morocco, South Africa, DR Congo, Tunisia, Ghana, Botswana and Algeria. Others are Mali, Tanzania, Senegal and Zambia.
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