Nigeria will face Cameroon in the quarter-finals of 2022 WAFCON, meaning one of the 2 African giants will not make the final 4 teams and will miss out on the 2023 Women’s World Cup
By Kehinde Okeowo
The Super Falcons of Nigeria beat Burundi 4-0 in the final Group C game of the 2022 Women’s African Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in Morocco.
Nigeria dominated the encounter from the beginning to the end but were unable to score an early goal due to poor marksmanship.
The Super Falcons eventually opened the scoring in the 25th minute when Rasheedat Ajibade scored from the penalty box after she was brought down by the goalkeeper.
Nigeria doubled their advantage in the 28th minute after Peace Efih connected with a cross from Rasheedat Ajibade and put the ball beyond the goalkeeper to make it 2-0.
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Uchenna Kanu then grabs Super Falcons’ third goal of the game a minute later after another great work by Ajibade on the right.
Nigeria had a goal from Kanu disallowed for offside in the 38th minute, while Ifeoma Onumonu missed a sitter four minutes to half time.
The defending champions finally made it 4-0 in the 46th minute when Kanu scored her second goal of the game from the third assist from Ajibade.
The Super Falcons subsequently created numerous chances to score more goals but the heroics of Irakoze in the Burundian goal kept the margin respectable.
After comfortably dispatching Burundi, Nigeria will face the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon who finished behind Zambia in Group B in the quarter-finals of the competition.
This implies that one of Cameroon or Nigeria will not make it to the last four of the competition and will miss out on the Women’s World Cup, expected to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand in 2023.
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