Abuja -The Nigeria Football Association on Monday lauded the Senior Women National Team, the Super Falcons and the U-17 National Team, the Golden Eaglets, over their brilliant performances.
The Falcons on Monday in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, edged Cameroon's Lionesses 2-1 to pick up three vital points in their opening match of Group B at the 8th African Women Championship.
The Eaglets had on Sunday thrashed their Guinean counterparts 4-0 in Conakry in the second leg of their 2013 African U-17 Championship, to qualify for the final round of qualification series on a 7-0 aggregate.
Emeka Inyama, the Chairman of the NFA Media and Publicity Committee, said the performances of both teams came on the heels of excellent outings by the Flying Eagles and the Super Eagles who qualified for next year's African championships.
“The NFA is delighted that our National Teams are now giving their all in important games and we will continue to ensure the teams prepare well for major championships within the limits of our resources.
“The Eaglets, in a way, avenged the defeat of the Super Eagles in Conakry during the qualifying series for the 2012 African Cup of Nations.
“The Falcons on the other hand have now paid the Cameroonians back for that penalty shoot-out blot that stopped our girls from the London 2012 Olympics," Inyama said.
NFA flew the Falcons to Ghana for a one-week final training camp before the tournament and also hiked the team's win-bonus to 3,000 dollars per player.
Musa Amadu, the NFA General Secretary, assured that the Association would give every support to the Falcons in their next match against Ethiopia on Thursday and for the Eaglets in their final round of qualifiers against Mali.
“We are already putting arrangements in place for the Eaglets to return to Calabar immediately they come back from Guinea on Tuesday," Amadu said.
“This is for them to start preparation for the first leg match against Mali, which comes up on Nov.18.
“Gov. Liyel Imoke and the wonderful people of Cross River State have been very supportive and we appreciate them.
"As for the Falcons, we are putting heads together to see how we can further motivate them to fire from all cylinders against Ethiopia, as a win in that match will guarantee our semi final place even before the clash with Cote d'Ivoire on Sunday.'' (NAN)
