October 18, (THEWILL) – Kurt Simeon-Okraku, President of the Ghana Football Association, has urged the Black Queens to beat Nigeria’s Super Falcons and qualify for the 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations (AWCON), which will be hosted by Morocco.
On Wednesday, October 20, Nigeria hosts Ghana at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos for the first leg qualifier.
The Super Falcons are the continent’s most successful women’s national team, having won every edition of the AWCON tournament except two since its inception in 1991.
The Nigerian ladies, who are nine-time continental champions, have never failed to qualify for the AWCON tournament, but they will face a tough opponent on their way to Morocco in 2022.
Although Ghana has never won the AWCON Cup, the Black Queens have finished second three times, with Nigeria defeating them on each occasion.
The Super Falcons are no longer as dominant as they once were, with Cote d’Ivoire edging them out of contention for the 2020 Olympic Games and South Africa defeating them in the Aisha Buhari invitational tournament final in last month.
Despite the fact that the Super Falcons have been a nightmare for his compatriots in the past, Simeon-Okraku sees an opportunity for the Queens to repay the Nigerians for previous losses.
“Nigeria has given us lot of problems in the past, same way we also have been their nightmare in the past too,” the FA President conceded to the GFA website.
“We all have a fresh platform to give each other more problems, but I believe with the quality of players we have, we can face any opponent and win.
“It does not mean we do not respect Nigeria. They are gifted physically, and we are also gifted technically, and I have a firm belief that we will go in there and make ourselves and Ghana proud.
“Let’s go in there and play for one another and most importantly, stay together. In challenging moments when the game is tough for us, when we stay together, we will win.”
On Sunday, October 17, the Super Falcons began their preparations for the match, while the Black Queens are expected to arrive in Lagos on Monday.
The return leg will take place in Accra on Sunday, October 24. The winner of the two-leg match will compete in the 12th Women Africa Cup of Nations, which will be hosted by Morocco and ten other countries next year.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
