Falcons retain Nations Cup Trophy beat Bayana Bayana 4-3

African Women Nations Cup defending champions Super Falcons Saturday at the Accra Stadium in Ghana retained their trophy after a nail biting victory over Bayana Bayana of South Africa.

The Falcons who had lost their South African counterparts by a lone goal in the group stage put up a spirited effort that failed to yield result in the 90 minutes of play plus 30 minutes extra time.  What would have resulted in victory within regulation time for Nigeria failed to materialise following penalty miss by Asissat Oshoala.

With full and extra time gone with no goals to either side, penalty shootout took the center stage just like it did in the semifinal clash against indomitable lionesses of Cameroon on Wednesday.

The nerve wrecking penalties that followed saw Onome lose the first penalty for the Falcons.  The team however recovered quickly to maintain momentum converting the remaining four kicks while Bayana Bayana converted three of their five kicks

Although the quality of Falcons match could be said to be just above average, retaining the trophy they won last year in 2016 in Cameroon is a confirmation that they are still the best female team in the continent and by extension the most formidable team to fly the continents flag at the World cup in France come June 2019.

This marks the first trophy with Super Falcons for Coach Thomas Dennerby who will next begin to tinker the team into shape ahead of the world cup where like the say, the girls will be separated from the ladies.

Fans of Bayana Bayana who had urged them to go all out to defeat Falcons a second time, did not however express disappoint afterwards but rather gave the girls a pat on the back for picking a ticket to the world cup.

“We lost! It’s ok. We qualified for the WC which was the biggest objective.” one of the diehard fans dished out on social media shortly after the match.