{"id":22339,"date":"2025-10-27T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=22339"},"modified":"2025-10-27T10:34:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T09:34:00","slug":"super-falcons-strike-early-leave-benin-chasing-shadows-in-togo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/27\/super-falcons-strike-early-leave-benin-chasing-shadows-in-togo\/","title":{"rendered":"Super Falcons Strike Early, Leave Benin Chasing Shadows in Togo."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LOM\u00c9, Togo (FN) \u2014 Nigeria\u2019s Super Falcons kicked off their 2026 Women\u2019s Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign with a commanding 2\u20130 victory over the Republic of Benin on Friday, asserting their dominance in a match played on neutral ground at the Stade de K\u00e9gu\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goals from Chinwendu Ihezuo and Esther Okoronkwo gave the nine-time African champions a first-leg advantage, as they controlled the tempo and limited Benin\u2019s chances throughout the encounter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The match was relocated to Togo after Benin\u2019s home stadiums failed to meet Confederation of African Football (CAF) standards. Despite the change of venue, Nigeria wasted no time imposing their rhythm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Esther Okoronkwo and Chinwendu Ihezuo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rasheedat Ajibade nearly opened the scoring in the 10th minute with a lob that struck the crossbar, while Folashade Ijamilusi forced a sharp save moments later. The breakthrough came in the 24th minute when Deborah Abiodun sliced through Benin\u2019s defense with a pinpoint pass to Ihezuo, who calmly lifted the ball over the goalkeeper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just before halftime, Abiodun delivered again \u2014 this time finding Okoronkwo inside the box, who finished with composure to double Nigeria\u2019s lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benin\u2019s lone threat came in the 36th minute when Moumouni broke past Osinachi Ohale and fired at goal, but Nigerian goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie made a crucial stop to preserve the clean sheet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Head coach Justin Madugu praised the team\u2019s discipline and creativity, calling the win \u201ca strong statement of intent.\u201d Goalkeeper Nnadozie described the result as \u201ccrucial for momentum,\u201d while fans on social media hailed Abiodun\u2019s performance as \u201cworld-class.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The return leg is scheduled for Tuesday at the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abeokuta, Ogun State, where Nigeria will look to seal qualification for the 2026 WAFCON in Morocco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The continental tournament will run from March 17 to April 3, 2026, and also serves as Africa\u2019s qualifying pathway to the 2027 FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup in Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOM\u00c9, Togo (FN) \u2014 Nigeria\u2019s Super Falcons kicked off their 2026 Women\u2019s Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign with a commanding 2\u20130 victory over the Republic of Benin on Friday, asserting their dominance in a match played on neutral ground at the Stade de K\u00e9gu\u00e9. Goals from Chinwendu Ihezuo and Esther Okoronkwo gave the nine-time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":22343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Super-falcons-Nigeria.jpg?fit=700%2C400&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22339"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22345,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22339\/revisions\/22345"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}