Madugu satisfied with Super Falcons display after Tunisia WAFCON victory

Super Falcons head coach Justine Madugu has admitted he was satisfied with the team’s performance after they began their bid for another CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations title with a dominant 3-0 win over Tunisia in a Group B fixture at Stade Larbi Zaouli in Casablanca on Sunday.

The Super Falcons showed their intent from the first whistle, with Asisat Oshoala opening the scoring in the fourth minute with a powerful header after Omorinsola Babajide’s cross found her perfectly in the box.

Nigeria doubled their lead just before the break when Babajide, who was a constant threat down the left, latched onto a pass and buried her shot into the bottom corner to make it 2-0 after her effort was confirmed following a brief VAR review.

Tunisia showed resilience and nearly pulled one back when Salma Zemzem struck the crossbar in the closing minutes but their resistance was finally broken again in the 84th minute, when substitute Chinwendu Ihezuo scored from close range after good work by Okoronkwo to seal the win.

“It always feels good each time you set out to go out for a game. The ultimate goal for you is to win. And the fact that the team won, obviously, it is only natural that we are happy that the team won,” Madugu told reporters after the game as quoted by Complete Sports.

On Ihezuo coming off the bench to score the third, Madugu explained: “Well, every player that is here is equally of great importance. For us, they all are our players and we try as much as possible to promote team harmony and make everybody feel relevant in the team and nobody feels more important than the other.

“The game is a team sport. You all need each other. And so we try as much as possible to ensure that we do the right thing by being fair, transparent in all that we do.

“Like I said, everybody has an equal chance of being in the team. So whoever does well continues, whoever does not do well, obviously, because we want to do better, we have the privilege of making those changes so that we get the team going.”

The win enabled Nigeria to top Group B heading into their next fixture, while Tunisia will need to regroup quickly if they are to reach the knockout stages.

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