Super Falcons head coach, Thomas Dennerby has admitted that he expected a difficult game from Cameroon in the semi final of the 2018 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON).
Nigeria battled their way into the Final of the 11th AWCON after a 4-2 penalty shoot–out defeat of the Indomitable Lionesses following a scoreless 120–minute attrition in Accra on Tuesday.
The feat also guaranteed that Nigeria will maintain her record of appearing at every edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, when the world’s best teams gather in France next year summer.
The Indomitable Lionesses played a clever, controlled game at the Accra Sports Stadium and certainly looked quite skilful against the Cup holders, but the experienced Super Falcons held them at bay.
“It was a game we expected to be difficult and it proved to be nothing short. I feel the fans loved every bit of it despite it going 120 minutes without a goal. My team started the game on the back foot, especially in the first 15 minutes as Cameroon dominated. But we quickly regrouped and came back into the game,” Dennerby said shortly after the match.
“Both teams played well and sold a good game out to Africa and the rest of the world. The penalty shootout was one that we have been practicing at training for some time now and today (Tuesday) the players executed it to perfection.”
“For now we celebrate and prepare for the final match on Saturday. We are happy that we have won the game and picked one of the three tickets to the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Like I said yesterday (Monday), now that we have that out of the way, the next target is retaining the trophy.
Nigeria will face South Africa in the 2018 AWCON final at the Accra Sports Stadium on Saturday.
