By
Eniola Olatunji

The Super Falcons of Nigeria on Monday multiplied the woes of the Lionesses of Cameroon at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja with a lone goal ouster in the 2024 Olympic qualifier after the Lionesses were run into the cage by less fancied Kenya last September in the Women African Cup of Nations.

UD Granadille Tenerife of Spain 26 year old player, Esther Okoronkwo had collected a pass from bionic Jennifer Echegini who dribbled two Cameroonian Defenders before connecting Esther who tucked in the goal in the 15th minute of play.

The Cameroonians adopted ‘jam body system of play’ thinking their hard physical play can weary the Super Falcons and it was in this process that agile Nigerian Defender, Tosin Dimehin was taken out in the 40th minute for Halimat Ayinde to come in. 

Nigerian players, Captain Rasheedat Ajibade, Jeniffer Echegini, Okoronkwo and Toni Payne missed glaring chances to score which would have sent the Lionesses to the abattoir.

Two yellow cards were flashed by Namibian Ref Ndemugwanitha Twanyanyukwa one to each side and the No 14 shirt of Cameroon got a straight red card in 90+2 minutes when she ran like a long vehicle called Trailer without break into Goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie. The match was held up for about four minutes for Chiamaka to recover.

Nigeria had 110 -96 attacks having 6-3 shots on target with 6-2 corner kicks before a very scanty crowd at the Abuja stadium.

The Cameroonian Lioness escaped defeat in Douala by the gap of the skin of the tooth as Jennifer Echegini’s goal early in the second half of the first leg was controversially ruled offside and up till now, CAF’s Referees Committee has not offered any explanation as to the why. The first leg ended goalless officially.

After the Doula match, both teams took the same flight to Abuja on Sunday but Patmos Media line cannot confirm whether mix seats were allocated which could douse tension and remove “serious eyeing” of opponents for the Abuja match.

Nigeria’s Super Falcon had enjoyed been ranked no 1 in Africa from 1991 till date annually and has been African Champions nine record undisputable times but last qualified for the Olympic Games 16 years  ago. Falcons were at the Australia Olympics in 2000 and China Olympics in 2008 while Cameroon was at the London Olympics in 2012. The present crop of Super Falcon players have never been to the Olympics hence their strong desire for victory as explained by Captain Rasheedat Ajibade at the Press Conference on Sunday.

Ajibade had scored the lone goal that threw out Cameroon for Women African Cup of Nations 19 months ago. Although Evelyn Badu of Cameroon and Thambi Kgatlana of South Africa are the highest scorers in the Olympic qualifiers of the African Zone with four goals each, Ajibade and Fazila Ikwaput of Uganda are next with three goals each. Africa’s best, Oshoala is yet to get a goal at the Olympic Qualifiers.

Nigeria has been soccer lords of African female football until other African nations upgraded. Nigeria thrashed Cameroon 2-0 on 25th October 2014 in WAFCON match; Cameroon’s first victory was also a WAFCON match played 15th September 2015 in Douala won 2-1; she lost at home to Nigeria on 3rd December 2016 by 0-1 in yet another WAFCON match; it was goalless in Douala on 27th November 2018; on 14th July 2022 Nigeria humbled Cameroon by a lone goal and both sides played 1-1 draw last time they met on 14th July 2023.

Nigeria had walked a path of playing 1-1 with the Ethiopian Babes in the Olympic Qualifier on 25th October 2023 before whipping the Selassie Babes 4-0 in Nigeria on 31st October 2023 in the second leg of the Olympic Qualifiers to set up a meeting with Cameroon; Falcons dealt with Cape Verde tutoring them football rudiments with a 5-0 lashing on 30th November 2023 in Nigeria and beating the team 2-1 on their home ground on 6th December 2023 both in Women African Cup of Nations encounters.

Cameroon had beaten Kenya by a lone goal in Doula on 23rd September 2023 and lost by same margin on 26th September 2023 in WAFCON duels but Kenya ousted the Lionesses 4-3 on penalties. Cameroon eliminated Uganda losing 2-0 first on 26th October 2023 and winning 3-0 on 1st November 2023 in the Olympic qualifiers to set up a meeting with Nigeria.            

Two teams will represent Africa in Paris to join 14 other nations. Ghana lost at home to Zambia 0-1 and would play the second leg on Wednesday while Tunisia lost at home to Morocco and would also play their second leg on Wednesday. 

Nigeria that played goalless with Cameroon in the first leg and won by a lone goal on aggregate will meet on South Africa in April.

The two final teams to represent Africa, Ghana/Zambia vs Tunisia vs Morocco as well as Nigeria vs South Africa will be decided in a two legged duel 1st – 9th April 2024.

The Summer Olympics will take place in Paris, France from 26th July to 11th August 2024.