After defeating Ivory Coast 1-0 on Wednesday night and 3-0 on aggregate, the Super Falcons of Nigeria have qualified for the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.

The nine-time African champions were sent through after Esther Okoronkwo grabbed the game’s only goal against the Lady Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire in Abidjan.

The Ivorians gave it their all in the reverse fixture at the Stade Robert Champroux, but they were up against a tenacious Nigerian defence and an exceptional goalkeeper in Chiamaka Nnadozie, who refused to give an inch.

🗣️Our goalkeeping heroine @Nadoziechiamaka speaks on her penalty save and WAFCON 2022 target after a 1-0 victory over Cote d'Ivoire 🇨🇮 in Abidjan#SoarSuperFalcons #CIVNGA #team9jastrong #AWCONQualifier pic.twitter.com/3kT9lX1Qai

— NGSuper_Falcons (@NGSuper_Falcons) February 23, 2022

In the first half, neither team scored, but Francisca Ordega had a goal disallowed and Nnadozie saved a spot kick from the hosts.

Esther Okoronkwo, in only her second cap for Nigeria, produced the game-winning goal a minute before the end of stoppage time.

FT' in Abidjan | Esther Okoronkwo's 87th minute strike guaranteed our qualification to Women's Afcon, Morocco 2022

Cote d'Ivoire 🇨🇮 0-1 Nigeria 🇳🇬 [0-3 aggregate]#SoarSuperFalcons#Team9jaStrong#CIVNGA #AWCON2022Q @thenf

— NGSuper_Falcons (@NGSuper_Falcons) February 23, 2022

The Falcons’ hard-fought triumph and qualification for Morocco 2022 is great vengeance over the Lady Elephants, who denied them a spot in Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

+3 CLEAN SHEET
ONE PENALTY SAVE ✅ AFCON QUALIFICATION ✅WE ARE SUPER FALCONS 🦅🇳🇬💪 pic.twitter.com/2PDY3SPc0H

— Nnadozie chiamaka (@Nadoziechiamaka) February 23, 2022

𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕? 𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒙 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒘!

Last Updated on May 4, 2022 1:48 pm by Sir Kris