Female national team, Super Falcons coach, Thomas Dennerby has stated delight with the side’s 1-0 win away to Gambia in Wednesday’s first leg of their 11th African Women Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The Swedish gaffer said getting an away win puts his side in a suitable and comfortable situation ahead of the second leg on Monday at Agege Stadium, Lagos, but also promised that they will not rest on their oars.
The midweek match saw Dennerby earn his first win with the reigning African champions, as Amarachi Okonkwo, who plays for Nasarawa Amazons, scored the lone goal in the 19th minute of proceedings at Baku Independence Stadium.
However, the eight time title holders frittered away many begging chances in front of their hosts goal mouth, as Asisat Oshoala , Desire Oparanozie and Francesca Ordega’s attempts to increase the goal haul yielded no further results .
The Falcons have won eight of the 10 editions of the African Cup and have represented the continent at all editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup since the first competition was held in China 27 years ago.
Dennerby’s first outing with the Nigerian girls was the international friendly with France senior Women team that saw Falcons battered 8-0 at MMArena in Le Mans on April 6, 2018.
He has now set his sight on the return leg on Monday in Lagos, with the winner making it to the final tournament of the Total Africa Women’s Cup of Nations in Ghana.
Dennerby admitted that his players lost many scoring chances after their first half goal, which could have made the victory sweeter, hence his charge that they must not relax heading into the reverse fixture.
“When you start away, it is always good to come back home with clean sheet and win the game. If we can do that in an away game, we will have advantage to handle the game at home,” Dennerby reasoned.
