Henan Huishang of China defender, Onome Ebi has declared that she and her colleagues in the Nigerian female national team, Super Falcons will be motivated at the Africa Women Cup of Nations by the fact that it the contest serves as qualifiers for next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Ebi believes the urge to play at France 2019 will spur the Falcons to yet another conquest of the continent next month, but adds that they will not underrate any team they meet on the way, footballlive.ng reports.
Ebi added that the Falcons will not be deterred by the threat from South Africa in Group B of the competition, or any team they will meet in the semi-finals, as she says they intend to defend the title won in Cameroon two years ago and clinch a record 11th African title.
Despite being unable to lift the trophy only twice since the competition began in 1998, Ebi is looking beyond South Africa, Zambia and Kenya in their group, as well as Ghana or Cameroon in the semi-finals.
Ebi said the Falcons are ready for all the matches ahead, as they are not just aiming to defend the African title but have a good outing at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France next year.
She declared: “We are ready. Other countries are trying to catch up but this team is strong and nobody scares us.
“Facing South Africa is not different from facing any other team, as all teams are good to have qualified for the AWCON.
“We respect other teams going to the Nations Cup but the motivation to defend this tile is that it is serving as qualification to the World Cup. We want to go to the World Cup and do very well this time.”
