Nigeria lifts 7th CAF Women Championship Trophy

Pin It Now! The Super falcons of Nigeria this afternoon lived up to the expectation of soccer pundits by beating the defending champions Equatorial Guinea 4-2 to lift the CAF 7th women championship trophy in South Africa.

The Falcons made it clear from the commencement of this year’s tournament that they were in South Africa to reclaim the trophy they lost to Equatorial Guinea in 2008; and at the end of 90 minutes of play, they were proved right.

The match was action-packed, with the defending champions having an edge over Nigeria in the area of ball possession; but the Nigerians were ahead in terms of experience having won 5 out of the 6 previous editions. The only goal of the first half was scored by the tournament’s highest goal scorer Perpetual Nkwocha.

5 more goals were scored in the 2nd half. The equatorial Guineans equalized in the middle of the 2nd half but Nigeria went ahead again in the 72nd minute through Ugochi Oparanozie who had been a torn in the flesh of their opponents all through the first half.

In the 78th minute, a pull out from the right wing by Stella Mbachu was nodded by one of the Equatorial Guineans’ defenders into their own net, making it the third goal for the Super falcons.

In the 81st minute, Boho Sayo Jade pulled one back for the defending champions. The ovation that greeted her goal had hardly died down when Nigeria increased the tally to 4 as Ugochi Oparanozie’s pull out from the right flank was pushed into the net once again by another defender for a second own goal. This was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. The defending champions became completely demoralized as the possibility of scoring 2 more goals in eight minutes was no longer realistic for them.

In the 89th minute, Ugochi Oparanozie was replaced with Francisca Ordega. Soon after that, Glory Iroka hit the upright after beating the defenders and the goal keeper.

At the end of 90 minutes, the Nigerian ladies emerged champions after they made it clear from the inception of the tournament that they were in South Africa for business and that they would not return to Nigeria without the trophy.

Coach Uche Eucharia and her assistant Anne Agunmanu were elated that their team had regained their rightful position as the champions of Africa. Coach Jean Paul Mpila had no choice but to respect the Falcons for their experience.

The most valuable player (MVP) award of the match went to Ugochi Oparanozie. The Golden Boot award of the championship was given to Perpetual Nkwocha who scored a total of 11 goals to set a new African and World record. The Player of the tournament award went to Stella Mbachu, while the Fair play trophy was presented to Nigeria. Goal keeper Precious Dede who is also the captain of the team was full of joy as she lifted the tournament’s Trophy to the delight of the fans. Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea will now represent Africa in the 2011 Women world cup in Germany.

Nigeria lifts 7th CAF Women Championship Trophy

Read More ->>

Samson Siasia Becomes Super Eagles' New Coach

Pin It Now! The Nigeria Football federation has finally appointed Samson Siasia as the Coach of the Super Eagles. He was appointed after series of debate as to who was better between himself and his former team mate Stephen Okechukwu Keshi.

The two candidates that eventually became the preferred ones for the job of coaching the national team were both members of the 1994 African Nations’ Cup winning team and the USA ’94 World Cup, with Stephen Keshi as the captain of the team.

The emergence of Samson Siasia is good news to so many soccer pundits in the country as so many people had actually been clamouring for him to be appointed head coach following the Super Eagles’ abysmal performances in the past 10 years. The fortunes of the team began to dwindle since 1998 World Cup in France where they lost by a scandalous 4-1 to Denmark in the 2nd round of the tournament.

Since France ’98 the team has had over 8 coaches – Bora Milutinovic, Bonfere Jo, Shuaibu Amodu, Festus Onigbinde, Christian Chukwu, Austine Eguavoen, Berti Vogts, Las Lagerbach, etc. The fortunes of the team have not improved much as none of the coaches had been able to make Nigeria win the Africa Nations’ Cup Gold trophy ever since their last one in Tunisia ’94.

Nigeria is blessed with array of soccer talents; unfortunately, indiscipline, internal squabbles and lack of commitments have made it impossible for the team to achieve much in the past decade. With the emergence of Siasia as the new coach, it is hoped that this problem would be addressed as he is known to be a strict disciplinarian.

Besides, Siasia has the charisma to move the players into giving their best for the country. He was able to achieve success in the 2005 World Youth Championship in the Netherlands with an U-20 team that was made up of mainly home based players. We also saw the commitment put in by the 2008 Beijing Olympic team players under him.

We hope that when the contract is finally wrapped up, either the NFF or Coach Siasia himself should be able to choose an assistant that would work effectively and harmoniously with him to advance the Nigerian football to the next level. Stephen Keshi has said that he’s willing to work with him in the interest of the Nigerian football.

We wish he is able to bring back the discipline, team spirit and commitment needed for the success of the team. He should also not fail to inject fresh legs into the team and make invitations into the team competitive. Once he is able to bring in these basic ingredients, he is bound to succeed more than the previous coaches that have handled the Super Eagles.

Samson Siasia Becomes Super Eagles' New Coach

Read More ->>