Nigeria’s Super Falcons  players will storm Namibia on Wednesday for the African Women Championship armed with the hope that they can win back the trophy they lost two years ago.

Heartbroken..

This is even as their preparations for the AWC have cast doubts in the minds of football enthusiasts. The team, due to the crisis that bedeviled the Nigeria Football Federation started their training late and even at that some of the key players based in Europe reported to camp only last Monday.

Striker Fransica Ordega maintained that it will be a tough task for the Falcons as other nations have caught up with Nigeria in women football.

“We really have to work harder as a team because Women football in Africa is improving, and it is no longer the way it used to be.

“You can hardly see teams scoring basket full of goals now, and it is because the women’s game is getting popular on the continent and there’s more awareness,” said Ordega.

The Falcons will open their AWC account with a group A tie against Cote’d Ivoire on Saturday October 11 and then after play Zambia on October 14 before facing the hosts Namibia on October 17. Cote’d Ivoire their first opponents have been camped in South Africa for weeks. They lost 2-1 to the Bayana Bayana in a friendly, the Ivorians beat South African women league champions Mamelodi Sundown Ladies 2-1 and University of Johannesburg women 4-0

“This friendly match was a good test for us, since we played against the champion of the South African league. It’s important for us as we prepare for the African Women Championship.

“We ran our workforce and we believe we have seen good things. The result does not matter. We also looked at the behaviour of the players. We will continue to work because there are still some things to fix,” head coach Clementine Toure was quoted by the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) website.