The Nigeria's Pillar of Sports, Chief Donatus Agu-Ejidike [JP] has praised the Super Falcons of Nigeria, over their dramatic victory against the Atlas Lionesses of Morocco, at the Olympic Stadium in Rabat on Saturday in the final of the WAFCON 2024 in Rabat. Morocco. Ejidike praised the ladies for switching on, what he describes as the "Naija Spirit", which according to him cones to play, whenever an average Nigerian finds his/her back to the corner.

The former President of the Karate Federation of Nigeria (KFN) gave the praise on Saturday night in Lagos during a post-match interaction with a group of Sports journalists, shortly after the match. Ejidike who could not contain his joy said that, the never-say-die spirit that was on display on many occasions in the past. Some of them include: the Daman Miracle of Saudi 89 Under-20 FIFA World Cup (quarter final against the Soviet Union); Atalanta 96 Olympic semi final, and final (against Brazil and Argentina respectively). The spirit, according Ejidike, resurrected on Saturday against the Atlas Lionesses of Morocco, who needed just the first 25 minutes of the first half to race into a commanding 2-0 lead, that made it look as though, the match was all over, by the end of the first half. 

But the girls roared back like wounded lionesses in the second half when Esther Okoronkwo took over the control of everything and acted the whole show according to her own script. This started, when she converted a spot kick to halve the lead. She also bully her way into the Moroccans' 18-yard, minutes later, to find Folashade Ijamilusi who had been lurking, to even scores. There was however a moment of anxiety, in the 78th minutes, as the hosts thought they have won a penalty when the ball appeared to have struck Tosin Demehin's right hand in the box. But the VAR thought otherwise, and the referee's decision was reversed, after the Namibia lady at the centre went for a video review. Then two minutes to the end of regulation time, Nigeria won a free kick, and Okoronkwo once again, struck a telephatic one that connected with substitute, Jennifer Echegini, to completely stand the result of the game on its head. That ended the match at 3-2 in favour of Nigeria, despite the central referee adding six minutes in added time, as the Falcons dug deep to defend their lead. 

That brought Nigeria's total haul of triumph in the competition to 10 out of the 13 editions of the competition. The Falcons also ensured the continuation of their tradition of never having lost a final match. The icing on the cake for Nigerian football fans is the fact that, the Falcons beat, one after the other, all the teams (Zambia, South Africa, and Morocco) who beat them in the last edition in 2022, to be capped with the sweetness of having to come from behind.

The Nnewi-born Sports philanthropist says the quality within the Nigerian set-up has never been in doubt, adding that, all that is required is just for it to be harnessed properly to achieve good results. He equally charged the players, and the technical crew to go ahead and replicate this feat on the global stage saying, after all, the ladies rub shoulders with the best available players on a global stage, at their respective club sides, and should, therefore, not find it so difficult to put up similar performances, when donning the national colour, given the proper motivation. 

The patron of the Nigerian Football Supporters Club (NFSC), congratulated the ladies, the coaching crew led by Justin Madugu, the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) led by Mallam Ibrahim Gusau, the National Sports Commission (NSC) under the leadership of Mallam Shehu Dikko, and above all, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, upon the epoch-making victory that has further cemented Nigeria's position as the number one nation, when it comes to women football in Africa.

While Okoronkwo emerged the woman of the match, goalkeeper, Chiamaka Nnadozie bagged the Goalkeeper of the tournament, and fantastic Captain Rasheedat Ajibade emerged the player of the tournament. Morocco forward Ghizlane Chebbak won the top scorer award with five goals. I 

Meanwhile the Nigerian team will smile to the bank with a cheque of $1,000,000 (one million US Dollars) in prize money, for lifting the trophy.