Nigeria Content Online

Nigeria’s Super Falcons will come up against their German counterparts later today in an international friendly.

The Germans are the
reigning world champions, while the Super Falcons are the reigning
champions of Africa. The match, billed for the German city of
Leverkusen, is the first game to be prosecuted by the Super Falcons
since their successful campaign at the African Women’s Championship in
South Africa, and serves as part of their build-up towards next year’s
FIFA World Cup taking place in Germany.

Nigeria’s contingent of 18
players and eight officials earlier in the week departed for Germany
well aware that they have always lost anytime they came up against the
Germans, who will be aiming for an unprecedented third successive world
title next year. The very first game between both sides at senior level
took place back in 1991 at the FIFA World Cup in China, with the Super
Falcons suffering an embarrassing 4-0 defeat at the hands of the
Europeans in a group stage encounter decided in Jiangmen.

Players in 1991 now coaches in 2010

Current Super
Falcons coach, Eucharia Uche, and her assistant, Ann Agumanu, were both
in that Super Falcons squad; while current Germany coach, Silvia Neid,
was a midfielder in the German team and grabbed the game’s opening
goal. It took another 12 years before both sides were to meet again;
this time in a friendly match decided in the German city of Trier,
which served as a build-up game for both sides ahead of the 2003 FIFA
Women’s World Cup in the United States. And as was the case in 1991,
the Germans triumphed by three goals to nil. A year later, both sides
met in yet another friendly decided in Germany, this time around in
Offenbach, with the Germans triumphing 3-1. Nigeria’s only goal of that
game was scored in the 86th minute by Ajuma Ameh, but it served only as
a consolatory goal as the Germans went on to re-establish their
two-goal advantage three minutes later through Steffi Jones.

A month later, the
Germans came up against the Super Falcons in the women’s football event
of the Athens 2004 Olympics. And this time around, after a goalless
first half, it was the Nigerians who shot into the lead five minutes
after the restart through Mercy Akide only for Steffi Jones to restore
parity in the 66th minute, before substitute Conny Pohlers grabbed the
winning goal nine minutes from time. Both sides also met again at the
2008 Olympics in Beijing and, yet again, it was the Germans who
triumphed but this time by a lone goal scored in the 65th minute by
Kerstin Stegemann who made 191 appearances for the Germans.

The only player who has accumulated more caps than Stegemann is
Birgit Prinz, who has made 207 appearances with the last of them
arriving in last month’s 2-1 win over Australia. The 33-year-old
three-time women’s World Footballer of the Year, who on Tuesday made
known her plans to retire from football after next year’s World Cup, is
also the record goalscorer for Germany with 126 goals.

Her last goal,
however, arrived in February in Germany’s 4-0 drubbing of Denmark at
the Algarve Cup in Portugal where she grabbed her side’s second goal.
Inka Grings, who grabbed Germany’s equalizer in last month’s win over
Australia, scored twice against the Danes at the Algarve Cup and the
32-year-old has an impressive record of 59 goals in 86 appearances for
the Frauen Nationalmannschaft.