Head coach of the Nigeria women’s national team Randy Waldrum is upbeat ahead of the epic clash against Ghana for the 2022 African women cup of Nations qualifier.
The Super Falcons will face rivals the Black Queens of Ghana in the first round of the qualifying series for the 2022 tournament in Morocco.
The two African football giants face-off following the draw at the CAF Headquarters in Egypt, on Monday. The Super Falcons hold the record as the most successful side by far, with their dominance in lifting AWCON titles 11 times with the recent one three years ago in Ghana.
The defending champions will host Ghana for the first leg encounter in June (7-15th) before traveling to Ghana for the return fixture in October (18 – 29th). Speaking exclusively to Ghanasportspage.com after the draw, the former Trinidad and Tobago coach acknowledged the experience and quality the Black Queens possess but remains confident about his side’s chances.
The coach insists the Super Falcons’ immediate focus has to be good preparation as they aim one against their rivals.
“We were paired with Ghana and obviously that’s a very difficult game for the first game. Waldrum disclosed. “I certainly have a lot of respect for Ghana and I know the quality of players there so it will be a difficult game but I think for us everything is about us in trying to prepare our team properly for whoever the opponent may be.
“Our aim for this qualification is pretty simple is to win and to qualify obviously that’s what we’ll be striving to achieve and gain the understanding that there’s a lot of good quality in this tournament but we’re looking forward to it.
“As far as our preparation we will get started right away with some training camps and games. Obviously, we have already played an event in Turkey in February so we have been preparing this calendar year anyway to get ready for the African women’s cup of Nations but you know I don’t want to go into too much detail about the specifics on what is it we’re doing.
The 65-year old was surprised why the big countries were paired against each other.
“I enjoyed the draw yesterday. Am not really sure. Usually, these things are done seeding the top teams but were a little surprised that wasn’t done but haven said that I don’t really have any strong feelings one way or the other.”
Waldrum is tasked to lead the Super Falcons through two major campaigns, the 2022 African Women’s Cup of Nations which double as the qualifying event for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
