By Akinwale Kasali
The Super Falcons of Nigeria will be looking forward to a repeat of its outstanding performance at the recently concluded Antalya Cup, by gunning for glory at the upcoming Super Series Tournament in the United States of America.
Coach Randy Waldrum of the Nation’s female team named a strong squad that will represent the country at a Four-Nation Tournament in the United States of America for this year’s Summer Series.
The tournament involving hosts USA, Jamaica and Portugal’s senior women teams is a test run for the Super Falcons as they prepare for the African Women Cup of Nations qualifiers against Black Queens of Ghana.
The AWCON tournament serves as the qualification to the 2023 FIFA Women World Cup Championship.
Head Coach Waldrum and a number of overseas based players are expected to join up with the squad in Houston ahead of Nigeria’s first match of the series against Jamaica at the BBVA Stadium on Thursday.
Three days later, the Falcons, one of only seven teams to have featured in every edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup finals since the competition was launched 30 years ago, will tackle Portugal at the same BBVA.
Their last match is against the USA squad, four-time winners of the FIFA World Cup and four-time winners of the Olympic football gold, at the Q2 Stadium on 16th June.
Matches will be played at the BBVA Stadium in Houston and at the brand-new, $240million Q2 Stadium in Austin built by the newest club in the Major League Soccer, Austin FC. Both cities are in the State of Texas and the clash between the Super Falcons and the US Women A team will be the first-ever football match at the state-of-the-art Q2.
The USA is the only one of the four teams in the Summer Series that will compete in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
The match against Nigeria will mark the first time the USA has ever faced the Super Falcons outside of a world championship and it will be just the third-ever friendly against an African country for the Americans, with the previous two coming against South Africa.
