Vibrant Esther Okoronkwo at training on Thursday.
Nigeria will
take the battle to Morocco from the blast of the whistle as they intend to give
no inches or allow room for error in Saturday’s 13th Women AFCON Championship
Match inside the Olympic Stadium in Rabat.
The presence
of hosts Morocco guarantees a full house at the magnificent facility in
Morocco’s administrative capital, but the Super Falcons will be in no mood to
be brow-beat or shouted out of sync as they fight to notch up their superlative
numbers, including picking up a record-extending 10th continental title.
Captain
Rasheedat Ajibade is firmly on track for the Player of the Tournament award,
and forward Chinwendu Ihezuo is also in contention for the Top Scorer’s award
with her three goals, one behind Morocco captain Ghizlane Chebbak.
Both teams
boast title-loving veterans and ambitious young blood, and there is no dearth
of motivation or encouragement from both Governments and the football
fraternity.
Like most
championship games of this nature, the match may be decided from the dugout
Morocco’s
Spanish coach Jorge Vidal led his country to win the FIFA Women’s World Cup in
Down Under two years ago, and there is hardly a bigger line that can be
included in a coach’s resume than a World Cup triumph. He has led the Atlas
Lionesses with a firm hand and injected pace and purpose into their game, and
they appear even stronger than the team that defeated nine-woman Super Falcons
after a penalty shootout in a semi final match in Casablanca three years ago.
Yet, the
attention of pundits across the globe has been drawn to the person of Coach
Justine Madugu, previously seen only as assistant at major competitions, who is
now dictating the pace of things at Africa’s flagship women competition.
Madugu has
brought to enduring reality the tactical philosophy of ‘take it one game at a
time’, playing to his team’s strength in each game, and despite loads of
cynicism about his capabilities before the commencement of the tournament, four
of his five opponents (bar the Lady Fennecs of Algeria who played the Super
Falcons when the nine-time champions had already secured passage to the
knockout stages) have left for the dressing room with bleary eyes.
Surely, he
will play to his strength in this final match as well, meaning that all
calculations, expectations and projections of the opposition will be blown to
smithereens.
The
Confederation of African Football, on Thursday, appointed Namibian official
Antsino Twanyanyukwa as referee for Saturday night’s potentially-explosive
encounter.
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