…Battle Brazil, Spain, Japan in Group C
The Super Falcons on Tuesday night secured a hard-fought 0-0 draw against the Banyana Banyana of South Africa in Pretoria, which was enough to land the nine-time African champions the Paris 2024 Olympic Games ticket on 1-0 aggregate.
The reigning African champions, who had boasted that Nigeria’s one-goal win in Abuja on Friday would be swiftly cancelled within the first quarter-hour, sped off the blocks at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium but found a resilient Super Falcons unwilling to give an inch.
After the break, Linda Motlhalo, Jermaine Seoposenwe and Nomvula Kgoale proved a handful for The Pride of Africa, as they seized the midfield and got a couple of good passes to their danger-lady, Kgatlana. But at all times, Ohale, Chidinma Okeke, Christy Ucheibe and goalkeeper Nnadozie were alert and unruffled.
The last time the Super Falcons featured at the Olympics in women’s football was 16 years ago at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in China where they crashed out after losing all three group matches.
After Beijing Olympics, they failed to qualify for London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
It will be recalled that the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon knocked the Super Falcons out of the 2012 London Olympics. After a 1-2 loss in Nigeria, the Lionesses overturned the result in Yaounde with the scoreline before triumphing 4-3 in the resultant penalty shootout.
Despite going into the qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympics as African champions, the Super Falcons again failed to qualify after they were eliminated by Equatorial Guinea in the third round of the qualifiers.
Equatorial Guinea held the Super Falcons to a 1-1 draw in Nigeria and finished the job in Bata where they won 2-1.
Then, the former African champions fell to Ivory Coast in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic qualifiers after they were held to a 1-1 draw by the Ivorians in Lagos. The first leg in Abidjan had ended in a barren draw.
Paris 2024 makes it the fourth time the Super Falcons will feature at the Olympics after appearances at Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.
The ‘Pride of Africa’ will join Brazil, Spain and Japan in a potentially-explosive Group C in July.
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