Falcons take on mares in a face-saving showdown

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The Super Falcons may have lost their Group C opener to Banyana Banyana on Monday, but they will arguably face one of the toughest teams in the group when they take on the debutants of Botswana at Prince Stade Moulay Al-Hassan on Thursday (today), PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

Botswana recorded one of WAFCON's biggest wins so far when they beat fellow debutants Burundi 4-2 on Monday as the Falcons got off to a bad start to their campaign after their 2-1 defeat at Banyana on the same day - their sixth defeat in the competition's history in more than three decades.

Randy Waldrum's side must beat the Mares today to have a chance of progressing to the quarter-finals of the competition and keep their Women's World Cup hopes alive by winning their 51st victory in the tournament.

"We feel bad to have lost the opening game, and against South Africa for that matter, but we managed to put that behind us," the captain said on Wednesday. Falcons, Onome Ebi.

"We decided immediately after the match that we would give whatever it took to win all the remaining matches.

"There's no need for too many words. All we want to do is win against Botswana to restore our confidence, and then we can get back to business." from there."

Our correspondent has learned that Falcons coach Randy Waldrum, who will be without injured Asisat Oshoala, is expected to make changes to his starting lineup for the game.

First-choice keeper Chiamaka Nnadozie returns, having missed the opener through suspension, while Gift Monday or Uchenna Kanu will fill the void left by Oshoala in attack.

In defence, Waldrum could also deploy Leicester City Ladies defender Ashleigh Plumptre in her usual centre-back role alongside Ebi, while Osinachi Ohale and Glory Ogbonna move forward respectively. right and left rear.

Meanwhile, Botswana head coach Gaoletlhoo Nkutlwisang has revealed the Mares are motivated to inflict another defeat on the defending champions, who parade in front of an array of Europe-based professionals during the tournament.

Nkutlwisang said the Banyana's triumph over the Falcons gave them reason to believe they could stage an upset.

"When we saw South Africa win over Nigeria it motivated us. We saw that now we have to win this game. We are so proud of the way we we played against Burundi.

"We are playing the best teams and we are already looking forward to our next game and we want to keep improving," she said.