Nigeria’s senior women team head coach, Edwin Okon, has admitted that the African Women Championship (AWC) draws appears good for Super Falcons to qualify but insists that it won’t be easy as it looks.
According to the draws which took place in Windhoek on Saturday Nigeria was drawn in Group A with host Namibia, Zambia and Cote d’ Ivoire, while Group B has South Africa, Cameroon, Ghana and Algeria.
Okon told team media officer, Gracious Akujobi, that the group on paper looked easy for Super Falcons but was quick to warn that the Ivorians who eliminated 2012 champions Equatorial Guinea and host Namibia should not be treated with kid gloves.
“All the eight teams that qualified for the competition are good and determined to win the AWC title and that is why we won’t underrate any team. There are no pushovers in women football any longer in Africa.
“With Ivory Coast sending defending champions Equatorial Guinea out and a Namibian side that will be well motivated by home fans in our group, it will be foolhardy for Super Falcons to be complacent”.
He continued: “They might look at Group B and say that it is the group of death but the reality is that Group A that has the host and a team that beat the cup holders cannot be written off. It is not going to be easy but we won’t disappoint Nigerians.”
He assured that Super Falcons would do everything possible to qualify from the group and try to win back the trophy they lost in 2012 to Equatorial Guinea.
Coach Okon also revealed that he requested for three international friendly matches for Falcons in his program submitted to Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to prepare for the AWC, adding that he was hoping to open camp in August or thereabouts.
The AWC finals will hold from October 11 – 25 in Namibia. The winners, runners-up and third place winners qualify automatically to represent Africa at the FIFA women World Cup Finals in Canada in 2015.
