Nigeria coach Thomas Dennerby has said the team will prepare well for their African Women’s Cup of Nations title defence in Ghana, Punchng report
The competition starts on November 17 and ends on December 3. Defending champions Super Falcons are in Group B with South Africa, Zambia and Kenya.
The team, who are currently camped in Epe, Lagos State, began preparations for the tournament last week with Dennerby inviting 47 home-based and overseas-based players.
Dennerby said the team have enough time to prepare ahead of their first match against South Africa on November 17, saying he was confident they would reach the semi-finals of the tournament.
“Our other three opponents in the group are good. We have three weeks to our first game against South Africa and we will focus on preparing well for the matches to ensure we get to the semi-final,” he was quoted as saying on the Nigeria Football Federation’s twitter handle on Monday.
Meanwhile, former Falcons forward Stella Mbachu believes the team should be wary of their opponents as there are no more minnows in African women’s football.
She said the South Africans would pose the greatest threat in the group but warned that the Falcons should not underrate the Kenyans and the Zambians because the two teams could cause an upset in the group.
“The group should not be tough for the Falcons because on paper, South Africa will be the toughest for them. But they need to be cautious of the other two teams,” she said.
“There are no more small teams in African women football. Every country wants to beat Nigeria and claim a piece of record against the Falcons. The tournament will not be easy for them because it is a different thing to put players together and another thing to have them understand each other – which the Falcons have not been able to do.
“The smaller countries have their players together for a longer time and they understand themselves on the pitch. Nigeria will do well but they need to prepare well to avoid losing to the smaller teams.”
