Super Falcons battles Cape Verde for Afcon ticket in Abuja on Thursday
By
Harry Awurumibe,
Editor Abuja Bureau
Ordinarily, the encounter between Nigeria’s senior women’s football team, Super Falcons, and their Cape Verdean counterparts in a 2024 Women Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) qualifiers final round, first leg tie at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Thursday by 4 pm would not have called for caution but the unpredictability in the game of football makes it necessary for Nigeria to approach the match with every seriousness it deserves.
This is because there are no more minors in world football as many countries are investing in the development of women’s football at all levels including the Island country of Cape Verde, the conquerors of Liberia in the first round of this WAFCON qualifiers. They edged out Liberia over two legs to qualify to meet Nigeria.
Cape Verde thrashed Liberia 3-0 at the 15,000 capacity Estádio Nacional de Cabo Verde, Praia in the first leg and humbled the fellow West Africans again 2-3 away in Monrovia in the return match to qualify for this final round against Nigeria in a winner takes all clash over two legs on 6-2 aggregate scoreline.
It was no mean feat for a small country like Cape Verde which has just started competing in WAFCON and FIFA-approved women’s football competitions to reach this stage and if they are underrated by their more illustrious opponents in Nigeria, they will cause an upset in Abuja.
In fact, Cape Verde’s team boasts of no fewer than 11 foreign-based players who ply their trades in the Portuguese and La Liga feminine leagues invited by
head coach, Silvéria Nédio including their Top scorer and Most caps, Irlanda Lopes ( 27) of Portugal Amora.
Other Europe-based players in the team are defenders Leonilde Rodrigues (25) of Portuguese club Amora and Adriana Semedo (24) of Real Zaragoza, Spain; Forwards Ivania Moreira ( 30) of Racing Power, Melatcha (23) of Portugal Damaiense, Evy Pereira (29) of Racing Power and newly invited duo, Letícia dos Santos of Sport Club Mirandela, Portugal and Netherlands-born Jolina Amani (24) of FC Braga.
Midfielders Kleydiana Borges (28) of Vitória de Guimarães, Eleia Vieira ( 23) of Portugal Amora, and Sasha Wahnon ( 26) of Portugal Amora complete the professional players called up to do battle with Super Falcons.
Ranked 133rd in the world and 19th in Africa as compared to Nigeria 32 and 1 in Africa, the huge difference of 101places in the world and 19th in Africa will not matter much when the match kicks off in Abuja on Thursday evening as the team which was not formed in 2018 has defeated the senior women’s football teams formed many years before them.
For example, Cape Verde in January 2023 participated in the WAFU A Women’s Championship and walloped Guinea Bissau 4-0, hammered Mauritania 6-0 and piped The Gambia 2-1 before losing to Senegal 0-1 in the final. In September 2023, Cape Verde thrashed Liberia 3-0 in Praia and edged Liberia 2-3 in the return leg tie of the ongoing 2024 WAFCON qualifiers.
Statistics showed that Cape Verde is a high-scoring side by putting a total of 19 goals passed their opponents in six games which is an average of 3.1 goals per match while conceeding only 4 goals in the same number of matches, an average of 0.6 per game. This is an excellent performance by all standards and should be a source of concern to the Nigeria camp.
But acting head coach Justin Madugu has said that he is confident Super Falcons will fly over Cape Verde in Abuja despite the absence of a few regular players for various reasons including injuries and documentation.
According to him, “We are missing regular players for various reasons but we are not here to dwell on that. The Super Falcons’ team remains the Super Falcons anytime, any day, and anywhere. We have players in camp who will do justice to the badge and get us the qualification ticket to the WAFCON.
“Surely, we would have wanted a couple more days for the team to train together, but the fixture is the fixture and the window is the window, and we just have to make do with what we have and get the best out of the arrangement. Everyone in camp will play their part for the Super Falcons to qualify for Morocco 2024.”
As of the time of filing this report, a total of 20 of the 21 invited players have had at least three or two full training sessions with the team except the US-based University of Pittsburgh Panthers defender, Deborah Abiodun who was expected to hit camp Wednesday night.
