WINDHOEK – At a packed Sam Nujoma Stadium in Windhoek on Saturday, the Super Falcons of Nigeria delivered a blistery performance to beat Cameroon 2-0 on their way to a 7th African Women’s Championship title – the highest any country has won in the competition’s history.
First half goals from striker Desire Oparanozie and the industrious Asisat Oshoala proved enough to pave the way for victory for Nigeria in a gripping clash that had spectators on the edge of their seats for the entire 90 minutes.
With just a mere 12 minutes gone in the opening half, Nigeria were first to put their name on the scoreboard when their bulky goal-poacher Oparanozie arched home from a free-kick that left the clearly beaten Cameroon goalie Annette Ngo Ndom counting stars.
Despite being 1-0 down, Cameroon never looked back and started pressing even harder and their efforts were almost rewarded when lanky striker Gaelle Enganamouit’s shot from outside the box smashed the woodwork – leaving Falcons keeper Ibubeleye Whyte clasping on the net’s ropes in an attempt to get back on his feet.
Through their superior ball skills and fast game, Nigeria were able to double their lead on the stroke of halftime when the ever enterprising Oshoala connected perfectly with Francisca Ordega’s powerful cross to shove the ball home – 2-0 in favour of Nigeria.
In the 2nd half, Cameroon introduced Ajara Njoya for Francine Zouga and Ivem Mihamle for Madeleine Ngono Mani in an attempt to disconcert the Nigerian rearguard and the substitutes lived up to expectations as the Cameroonians started taking charge of the midfield and on the wings.
Cameroon pressed further but Nigeria held firm to claim their 7th title of the CAF Women’s Championship. Nigeria are champions of the 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2014 editions of the championship.
In the third place play-off match, also at the Sam Nujoma Stadium, Ivory Coast beat South Africa 1-0 to finish 3rd and book a place at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Kudos to Namibia! … a beginning of bigger and better things
Every Namibian should take a moment to doff his or her hat to the country’s government and the Namibia Football Association (NFA) and their various organizing committees for a job well done and for hosting what will arguably go down in African football history as one of the most professionally organized and glittering women’s tournaments witnessed in recent years.
On Saturday, Namibia staged a glamorous final in almost every respect with the crowds of supporters cheering from the first minute to the last and there were fireworks and volunteers who did a marvelous job in making sure everything fell smoothly in place as expected.
Despite the previous worries of poor crowd attendance at some games, Namibia, a rookie in hosting events of such magnitude, can proudly put their heads up knowing that they pulled off an impressive one.
But above all and most importantly, the games were incident-free as those unruly football hooligans that many a time take proceedings into their own hands through the hurling of cans and other dangerous objects onto the pitch were nowhere to be seen on an evening that was filled with a surprising national sense of elation.