Sports

Super Falcons Defeat Cote d’Ivoire’s Lady Elephants, Qualify For AWCON

Nigeria’s Super Falcons on Wednesday evening booked their place in the 2022 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations in Morocco after a 1-0 win over hosts Cote d’Ivoire ensured they qualified 3-0 on aggregate.

Esther Okoronkwo grabbed Nigeria’s goal in the 87th minute albeit the Falcons were denied a goal in the first half for an offside.

Nigeria’s goalkeeper Chidozie Nnadozie was impressive in the game at the Robert Champroux stadium in Abidjan and the highlights of her performance was when she saved a 33rd minute penalty.

The African queens had beaten Cote d’Ivoire 2-0 in the first leg at the Moshood Abiola stadium in Abuja on Friday through Ifeoma Onumonu’s brace.

The return leg in Abidjan Wednesday evening was played behind closed doors and the Ivorian police had to shoot tear gas to disperse the angry fans who tried to catch a glimpse of the Lady Elephants in action against nine-time African champions Super Falcons.

The semifinalists at the AWCON will represent Africa at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

Izuchukwu Okosi

Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc. In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio. He worked there for 13 years until October 2017. Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch. He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations. Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line. Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.