The Super Falcons of Nigeria shed the 2008 African Ladies Championship trophy to shock host- Equatorial Guinea. It was a bitter tablet that was much too a lot for the Nigerian girls to swallow, looking at the expectation back again household.
The Super Falcons were being led to the match by veteran mentor- Jossy Lad ably assisted by Mentor Uche Eucharia. To qualifier for the event, the ladies from Nigeria inflicted one of the heaviest defeats in the historical past of female football on the hapless Namibia. The one particular-sided come upon finished 10-1 in favor of the 7 time African champions.
When the workforce arrived in Malabo, it was with the intention to keep the trophy for a record 8 periods, and they begun their campaign on the 16th of November 2008 with a shaky 1-1 draw against the Black Queens of Ghana. It was a scary second for the reigning champions, as they experienced to dig in to conjure an equalizer which arrived off the booth of Ifeanyi Chiejine in the 90th minute of regular time.
The second video game was towards Tunisia, and in opposition to all anticipations, the Super Falcons could not locate the Tunisian web all through the face. The match eventually ended in a barren draw to the dismal of admirers back household.
The third and ultimate team match was versus arch rivals South Africa and there was stress in the air, as Nigeria essential a get to scale via to the Semi-Finals. Ifeanyi Chiejine after once more proved to be Nigeria’s savior as she slammed dwelling the profitable intention in the 16th moment of the strength-sapping experience.
The semi-closing clash in between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea was performed at the extraordinary Estadio Internacional, Malabo. It was an face that witnessed the unparalleled upset of the reigning Champions by the women from Equatorial Guinea. The match was resolved by a one goal scored in the 58 minutes of participate in by the tournament best objective scorer- Genoveva Añonma. She also emerged as the best participant of the match.
The Super Falcons experienced to settle for a 3rd position complete following defeating Cameroon 4-3 on penalties in the 3rd place match. While the Nigerian formal afterwards accused the Equatorial Guineans of applying men in place of girls in the course of the opposition, the Confederation of African Soccer in no way investigated the allegation and the Tremendous Falcons arrived back home with the agonizing memory of Malabo even though the Equatorial Guineans went on to defeat South Africa 2-1 to emerge as the new Champions of African Soccer. A complete of 8 teams took component in the 2 months event.
