SEMIS SHOWDOWN:Nigeria's Falcons ready to claw South Africa in AWCON tie
Football
By
By Rodgers Eshitemi in Limbe, Cameroon
| Nov 29, 2016
The Super Falcons of Nigeria are prepared for a tough fight in tonight’s (9pm) Africa Women Cup of Nations semi-final clash against South Africa’s Banyana Banyana at Limbe Omnisports Stadium.
The match will be preceded by an early semi-final tie between hosts Cameroon and the Black Queens of Ghana at 6pm in Yaoundé.
Both teams warmed up for the Limbe encounter with emphatic victories in their last group matches.
While South Africa rose up to the occasion to demolish Egypt 5-0 in a ‘must win’ match to finish second in Group A, the nine time champions hammered Kenya’s Harambee Starlets 4-0 to emerge top in Group B.
Although Nigeria coach Florence Omagbemi is not worried by the threat posed by South Africa their target still remains to retain the continental title.
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“We are not worried about meeting either Cameroon or South Africa. Our mission here is to compete against the best and defend our title,” said the former Super Falcons captain.
“We want to approach the South African game just like we did with our previous matches. We know this is a different stage and the tournament gets tougher as you move into the knock out stages, but we are ready for it. There is no replay in the semis, that’s why we are taking this match with the seriousness it deserves.
“It will all depend with what you want to communicate to your team and what lessons you have taken from the group stages. With that, we are still chasing our target of keeping the cup.
“We have talked to the players on the importance of this game.”
South Africa coach Desiree Ellis is equally braced for a difficult match, but looks to draw motivation from the 5-0 thrashing of Egypt.
“If you want to win any competition, you must play all the teams before you. Having watched Nigeria play, we are prepared for a tough match against them,” said Ellis, a former South African international.
“Scoring many goals against Egypt was not a dream but belief. We knew we had goals within us against Zimbabwe and Cameroon, but we were somehow unlucky.
“We kept on believing, took our chances against Egypt and scored five. That’s the belief we want to carry into this match.”