Group: B (Third Round)
Match: Equatorial Guinea vs Nigeria
Venue: Cape Coast Stadium
Referee: Vicentia Enyonam Amedome (Togo)
Kickoff: 16:00 GMT
Two most successful nations in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations history, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea, come face to face at the Cape Coast Stadium on Saturday, at 16:00 GMT.
Ordinarily, this game should have been the pick of the final round of matches in the group phase, but the results from game day one and two make it the easiest pick to predict.
The Super Falcons impressively bounced back after a slip against the Banyana Banyana in the opening day to produce an exquisite 4-0 victory over the Copper Queens on day two. With that, Nigeria have a semifinal slot very close to their chest – only needing a victory against whipping side Nzalang Nacional Feminino to ensure that.
Equatorial Guinea are entering this game after 5-0 and 7-1 defeats to Zambia and South Africa respectively. With goals deficit of 11 and no point, the Nzalang Nacional Feminino need not less than 8-0 victory against the Super Falcons and hope that South Africa thrash Zambia 6-0 or more – impossible is just a word, isn’t it?
This will be the fourth meeting between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea – Nigeria have two wins from this tie whilst Equatorial Guinea have managed to win one.
TEAM NEWS
It’s full house for Nigeria heading into this game – Coach Thomas Dennerby has no injury worry and might stick to the starting eleven that opened the floodgate against Zambia on Tuesday, led by the trio of Asisat Oshoala, Francisca Ordega and Desire Oparanozie.
Midfielder Annette Jacky Messomo, 25, after being stretched off on 37th minute in the opening game against Zambia failed to make a return against South Africa – Chinasa Okoro was the replacement in that second game – the former might pass a late fitness test to face Nigeria.
MANAGERS’ THOUGHTS
Speaking at Friday’s pre-match press conference, Equatorial Guinea Coach Jean-Paul Mpila said though his team is effectively out of the competition, they will put up a good fight in their final group fixture against Nigeria.
“I can boldly say we out of the tournament but concerning tomorrow’s fixture against Nigeria, we are going to honour it. As I always say we never give up until the last blast of the whistle so we are preparing for the match.
“My objective for this team is to secure the future. You have seen how the team performed in this tournament compared to the previous, they are different.
“At first, we were one of the forces in Africa but that’s not the case at the moment so my main aim for this team is to bring back the glory days.
“Competition remains competition. I have much respect for Nigeria because they are a great football nation. No coach will go into a match expecting defeat so I accept to go onto the field and just give in for Nigeria to win the game. If they win, it is a plus for them,” he noted.
For Nigeria gaffer Thomas Dennerby, “We are not doing any changes. We are working on as we have done from the beginning… It’s just normal day at work. We keep going the same way we go every day and try to do our best to secure the position as one of the teams from this group to progress to the semi-finals and that start with a victory against Equatorial Guinea tomorrow [Saturday].”
“I am happy my team created a lot of scoring chances in our last game, it is the first step. Anyone who watched will agree that we should have probably scored more goals.
“The only thing you can do is to work on it during training sessions and talk to the players how to find good techniques to score.
“I guess there are some players who normally score when it comes to the important games. I hope we get that effect Equatorial Guinea tomorrow, the Swede also said.
