Reigning African champions, Super Falcons of Nigeria, will on Sunday, face arch-rivals, Lionesses of Cameroon in a winner takes all quarter-finals encounter. The match will hold at the Larbi Zaouli Stadium in Casablanca, the first match Nigeria will play outside Rabat in the ongoing 14th Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON).

The Super Falcons had a shaky start to the tournament, losing 2-3 to ‘unknown’ Malawi in their first game before beating Zambia and Egypt in the second and third group match respectively.

Sunday’s match against Cameroon will go a long way in determining if Nigeria will successfully defend the WAFCON trophy in the country, where they won the last edition to make it 10 titles.

The Super Falcons scored six goals and conceded two including a cheap goal in the closing stages of the encounter against Egypt at Olympic Stadium Rabat.

Nigeria finished second behind Malawi in the group, forcing many football analysts to point out that the 10-time African champions are not yet convincing about their ability to go all the way in the tournament especially when the competition has reached the business end where a loss means the end of the road for any of the remaining eight countries in the competition.

To them, the team has been unconvincing, uncoordinated and uninspiring with only few individual brilliance noticed so far unlike the team that won the 10th WAFCON title last year.

This much has been acknowledged by the head coach Justine Madugu who has warned his wards against any slip ups in the quarter-finals match against Cameroon this Sunday.

Coach Madugu said the kind of slip that allowed the Super Falcons to be beaten by Malawi must not reoccur in the knockout stages.

“Now, we cannot afford to make the mistakes we were making at the group stage as we approach the quarterfinals,” he said. “We need to put our best foot forward and tread cautiously,” Madugu told journalists in post match interview in Rabat after Nigeria walloped Egypt 6-2 to book quarter-finals ticket.

Speaking further, the coach said: “It is a lesson for us to understand that African football has grown. If you make a mistake, you are punished, except you get a second chance.”

There is no outstanding player in the Super Falcons so far in this tournament unlike in the past when Nigeria paraded outstanding players who would go on to score vital goals to bail out Nigeria in tight matches.

In the previous editions, Nigeria had produced dreaded goalscorers who single-handedly decided matches in favour of Nigeria like Perpetua Nkwocha with 34 WAFCON goals. She is followed by Desire Oparanozie with 22 overall Super Falcons goals. Another reliable goalpoacher for Nigeria was Stella Mbachu with 20 overall goals.

However, the two current players who are close to the trio of Nkwocha, Oparanozie and Mbachu are Uchenna Kanu who has 22 overall goals, and Asisat Oshoala with 15 goals she scored across five different WAFCON tournaments.

The Super Falcons have never lost a game to the Cameroon Lioness in the history of the tournament.

In 2026, the Super Falcons, under coach Florence Omagbemi defeated the Lionesses of Cameroon 1-0 in the final played in front of the country’s President Paul Biya and thousands of spectators in Yaounde.

Now qualification for the FIFA Women’s World Cup is at stake in Sunday’s game against Cameroon, but according to captain Rasheedat Ajibade, the Super Falcons will do “whatever they have to get the World Cup ticket to 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.”

Earlier this year, Cameroon and Nigeria met in a two-legged friendlies in Yaounde, the Indomitable Lionesses ran away with a lone goal victory in the first but Super Falcons won the second match 3-1.

The rivalry between Nigeria and Cameroon dates back to 1991 when both met in the 1st FIFA Women’s World Cup African qualifiers (Nigeria won home and away).

Since then, the match involving the two nations usually provide high-intensity competition.

In Sunday’s match, history favours the Super Falcons to fly over the Indomitable Lionesses in Casablanca, if the Nigerians can put their acts together. (The Guardian)

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