Falcons can’t massacre us, we’ll shock them – Ghana

Super Falcons

Festus Abu

Ghana   coach  Yusif Basigi admits  his team  face an onslaught from their eternal rivals  Nigeria  in their Cameroon 2016 African Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Group B fixture on Wednesday, but  he   has warned    the Super Falcons  the Black Queens  won’t be on their holidays at  Stade Limbe venue for the clash.

The Falcons got their AWCON defence off to a solid start with a 6-0 pounding of  debutants Mali  in Yaounde on Sunday.  Arsenal Ladies forward Asisat Oshoala stamped her  name on the scoresheet four times in the encounter.

Nigeria, who are gunning for their eighth  title this time,  won  the trophy thrice at Ghana’s expense. The Falcons beat the  Black Queens 2-0  in  the final of the  maiden edition of the championship in Abeokuta in 1998.

 

Nigeria defeated Ghana 2-0  to win the 2002 edition of the tournament –and followed up with a 1-0 victory against their West African opponents in the 2006 finals in Warri, Delta State.

The Falcons are favourites  to win the AWCON  2016 title, but  Basigi, whose team have yet to lift the trophy,  says the Black  Queens should not be ruled out as title contenders.

“Any team at this competition are  worthy of being crowned champions and  we don’t have to be underrated,” Cafonline quoted  Basigi  as saying after guiding his team to a 3-1 victory over Kenya in the second Group B fixture at Stade Limbe on Sunday.

He insists Wednesday’s fixture won’t  be a walk in the park for the Falcons, vowing to give everything to win the clash to reach the semifinals.

Basigi said, “Ghana versus Nigeria is always a different ball game. They massacred Mali 6-0 but it doesn’t mean that they will massacre Ghana.”

The Sekondi Hasacaas  manager, who steered Ghana  to a gold medal finish  in the women’s football event at the Brazzaville 2015  All Africa Games,  revealed  he would  make some  changes to his lineup for the encounter against Nigeria.

“Against Nigeria, I think we need to up our game a little bit,” Basigi was quoted by Football Ghana as saying on Monday.

“We’ll revise our notes on our weaker side, we’ll work on it and polish on the stronger side as well.”

He added,  “Nigeria shouldn’t underestimate us at all,  because when these two countries meet in football, it could go either side, hence we’ll really be determined to shock them and progress to the next stage.”