Nigeria’s Super Falcons made good their promise of beating the Lionesses of Cameroon to take their pound of flesh after beating the Cameroonians 2-1.
Perpetual Nkwocha made sure that promise was met when she scored the sealing goal very late into the second half to see the French speaking country that ensured the Falcons miss the London Olympics as Falcons lost 4-3 on penalties after aggregate scores stood at 3-3.
Substitute Ngozi Okobi brought life to Nigeria attack and her pull-out found the durable Perpetua Nkwocha at far post to connect home with a diving header in the 90th minute to seal a hard-earned victory for the African champions.
It was the Super Falcons all the way from the blow of the start whistle with impressive moves as they dominated and took the lead at the tail end of the first half thanks to an Onyinyechi Ohagugha canon from 20 yards.
Though, it wasn’t all smooth sail going into the clash which held today in Equitorial Guinea as the water-logged pitch adversely affected the standard of play culminating into so many chances wasted by both sides, also denying the players the chance to show their full potentials on pitch.
On resumption of the second half as if some dressing room talk down was handed to the Cameroonians, Indomitable Lioness of Cameroon fought back and that paid off as they drew level in the 53rd minute with a penalty converted by skipper Patience Mani after a Nigerian defender committed an infringement inside the box.
Before then the Super Falcons had a chance to double their lead through Stella Mbachu’s 19-yard shot which hit the crossbar in the 49th minute.
After their equalizer, the game sort of changed in favour of the Cameroonians as they dominated the better part of second half and would have taken the lead through a rebound which Louni fired wide unfortunately in front of an open net.
Meanwhile, hosts Equatorial Guinea beat South Africa 1-0 on Sunday.
