Nigeria Content Online

Ahead of the 7th
African Women’s Championship, to be held in South Africa, the Super
Falcons coach Eucharia Uche says she has no fear for any of the
countries featuring in the biennial tourney.

The draw for the
championships takes place Tuesday in South Africa and Uche who is
expected to attend the event believes the Super Falcons are ready for
battle in whichever group they are placed.

“We are ready for
any team, our goal is to regain our position as the best African team
and we must play with the best teams to do that,” she said.

Nigeria’s
domination of African female football was halted at the last edition of
the tournament in 2008, which was hosted and won by Equatorial Guinea.

Before being
displaced at the top, the Super Falcons had always comfortably beaten
their African opponents – winning with wide-margins.

That however is no
longer the case as other African teams seem to have closed the gap with
the Falcons only recording modest wins in their recent outings.

Commenting on the
development, Uche said that it is a good omen for the continent and
Nigeria as it will keep the girls on their toes.

“It is a sign of
development and also a welcomed one. It only means that we should work
harder as we now have tougher teams in the continent,” she said.

Team’s preparation

Eucharia said the
Falcons have been having serious training at their camp in Abuja and
are expecting to play some friendly matches before moving out to South
Africa.

“Some friendly matches have been lined up for us in Sweden where we have more of our foreign-based players.

This has been done
with the assistance of some Nigerians over there whom we contacted,”
she shaid. Already six members of the Falconets team that got to the
final of the recently concluded FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Germany
have been drafted to shore up the team; they include Rebecca Kalu and
Ebere Orji.

The African Women’s Championship will take place from October 29 to November 14, 2010.

The qualified teams are Guinea Equatorial, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Algeria, Mali, Tanzania and host South Africa.

The teams will be
divided into two groups of four, and to be played in a round robin
system. The top teams from each group will be in the semi final before
the final.

The last competition played in 2008 in Equatorial Guinea was won by the host country.