ABUJA – Twenty Super Falcons’ players on Wednesday in Abuja began training ahead of the national senior women football team’s 2014 African Women Championship (AWC) qualifying matches against Rwanda.
The team’s head coach, Edwin Okon, had invited 34 players to camp ahead of the qualifying matches.
Okon told NAN after the team’s first training session at the FIFA Goal Project pitch of the Abuja National Stadium that the remaining players were expected later on Wednesday.
“Although, we have only 20 of them this (Wednesday) morning, the remaining 14 will join us later in the day.
“The reason for their late arrival has to do with obtaining their medical certificates, because they must tender it before they can be allowed to join us in training.
“So, by tomorrow (Thursday) morning, we are expecting to see a full house during our training session,’’ the Super Falcons coach said.
He also said any player who could not meet the Wednesday evening deadline would lose her place in the team.
“If eventually some players cannot make it today, we have so many replacements. So, we will have to call up other players to replace them.
“This is because there are so many good players around. Besides, we do not have time to waste,’’ Okon said.
The Super Falcons will play against their Cameroonian counterparts in a friendly match on April 15 in Abuja.
The Nigerian side qualified for the final round of the qualifiers after Sierra Leone withdrew from the first round.
They will now face Rwanda in the final qualifying round, with the first leg match to be played in Rwanda on any day between May 23 and May 25.
The return leg match will be played on the weekend of June 6 to June 8 in Nigeria.
Okon, however, said the team’s resumption of camp barely two weeks to its friendly match would not stop it from delivering a good performance.
“My disciples are ever ready, even though I heard that the Cameroonians have been in camp since December. It will not be a problem to us.
“We will try our best, because the match will be used to test our strengths and loopholes,’’ the Rivers Angels handler said.
The 2014 AWC will hold in Namibia from Oct. 11 to Oct. 24.(NAN)
