Nigeria bounced back from their opening day defeat with a 4-0 smashing of Zambia on day 2 of Group B games at the ongoing 2018 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Wednesday afternoon.
The Super Falcons returned to the Cape Coast Stadium under pressure needing to beat the Copper Queens at all cost, having lost 1-0 to South Africa last Sunday.
Striker Desire Oparanozie opened the flood gates four minutes to the end of a cagey first half. Nigeria had been finding it difficult to break down the Zambians who matched the defending champions with strength and speed.
But Francisca Ordega, after a number of tries, finally succeeded in losing her marker on the left and planting a cross for Oparanozie to race and pounce and finish from inside the box.
Nigeria returned for the second half with a new level of intensity, almost always exposing the Zambians with the speed of Asisat Oshoala but the African best player squandered all her back-to-back scoring opportunities.
Came the 68th minute when Ordega was on hand to curl home a loose ball goal number 2 after both Oshoala and Oparanozie failed to hit the ball past the Zambian keeper.
Oparanozie soon made way for Rasheedat Ajibade and the latter needed barely five minutes to put her name on the scoring sheet. A delectable pass from Oshoala saw the FC Robo Girls striker release a thunderbolt that hit the underside of the crossbar before crossing the line. 3-0 Super Falcons.
Amarachi Okwonkwo sealed off the emphatic 4-0 victory in added time.
Nigeria are now on three points with a goal advantage of +3. Equatorial Guinea and South Africa come up next at 18:30 GMT.
