Super Falcons target historic win over Germany

By Ifeanyi Ibeh


November 25, 2010


Nigeria’s Super Falcons will come up against their German counterparts later today in an international friendly.

The Germans are the reigning world champions, while the Super Falcons are the reigning champions of Africa. The match, billed for the German city of Leverkusen, is the first game to be prosecuted by the Super Falcons since their successful campaign at the African Women’s Championship in South Africa, and serves as part of their build-up towards next year’s FIFA World Cup taking place in Germany.

Nigeria’s contingent of 18 players and eight officials earlier in the week departed for Germany well aware that they have always lost anytime they came up against the Germans, who will be aiming for an unprecedented third successive world title next year. The very first game between both sides at senior level took place back in 1991 at the FIFA World Cup in China, with the Super Falcons suffering an embarrassing 4-0 defeat at the hands of the Europeans in a group stage encounter decided in Jiangmen.

Players in 1991 now coaches in 2010

Current Super Falcons coach, Eucharia Uche, and her assistant, Ann Agumanu, were both in that Super Falcons squad; while current Germany coach, Silvia Neid, was a midfielder in the German team and grabbed the game’s opening goal. It took another 12 years before both sides were to meet again; this time in a friendly match decided in the German city of Trier, which served as a build-up game for both sides ahead of the 2003 FIFA Women’s World Cup in the United States. And as was the case in 1991, the Germans triumphed by three goals to nil. A year later, both sides met in yet another friendly decided in Germany, this time around in Offenbach, with the Germans triumphing 3-1. Nigeria’s only goal of that game was scored in the 86th minute by Ajuma Ameh, but it served only as a consolatory goal as the Germans went on to re-establish their two-goal advantage three minutes later through Steffi Jones.

A month later, the Germans came up against the Super Falcons in the women’s football event of the Athens 2004 Olympics. And this time around, after a goalless first half, it was the Nigerians who shot into the lead five minutes after the restart through Mercy Akide only for Steffi Jones to restore parity in the 66th minute, before substitute Conny Pohlers grabbed the winning goal nine minutes from time. Both sides also met again at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and, yet again, it was the Germans who triumphed but this time by a lone goal scored in the 65th minute by Kerstin Stegemann who made 191 appearances for the Germans.

The only player who has accumulated more caps than Stegemann is Birgit Prinz, who has made 207 appearances with the last of them arriving in last month’s 2-1 win over Australia. The 33-year-old three-time women’s World Footballer of the Year, who on Tuesday made known her plans to retire from football after next year’s World Cup, is also the record goalscorer for Germany with 126 goals.

Her last goal, however, arrived in February in Germany’s 4-0 drubbing of Denmark at the Algarve Cup in Portugal where she grabbed her side’s second goal. Inka Grings, who grabbed Germany’s equalizer in last month’s win over Australia, scored twice against the Danes at the Algarve Cup and the 32-year-old has an impressive record of 59 goals in 86 appearances for the Frauen Nationalmannschaft.