Super Falcons Captain Talks Tough

The captain of the Super Falcons of Nigeria, Onome Ebi, does not see any reason why she and her teammates should be scared of the Three Lions of England.

At 8:30 a.m. on Monday, August 7, the Super Falcons will face arguably their biggest foes, England, at the ongoing 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The round of 16 match is a must-win for both teams as the two teams seek to win their first Women’s World Cup in their history.

Hence, beyond making more money for reaching the quarter-finals ($90,000 per player of the team that makes it to the last eight), the two teams want to surpass their best performance in the tournament.

While the best performance of the Super Falcons was a quarter-final finish in the 1999 edition, the Lionesses have reached the quarter-finals three times and the semi-finals twice.

Based on their current form as the only team in the round of 16 with three wins and reigning champions of Europe, and also the fact that the Super Falcons have never defeated them in the World Cup after two meetings, England are seen as favourites to win Monday’s clash.

However, the Super Falcons captain who is 40 years old and has played in 6 Women’s World Cups, argued that her team can beat any team at the tournament.

Recall that the Super Falcons draw 0-0 with the reigning Olympics champions, Canada, beat the World Cup co-hosts 3-2, and drew 0-0 with the Republic of Ireland to book a date with the unbeaten England in the round of 16.

“We have started the race, we’ve passed the group stage, so every other thing in our head is winning because if you don’t win any game henceforth you are out, no second chance. So, we are giving it all to progress. We are not here to see how Australia looks. We have a 100 percent chance to play against any team. We are going all out and our mentality is about winning,” Ebi told Punch.

“Before we even came here, we didn’t see anyone threatening us. Having played against Canada, the Olympic champions; co-hosts Australia, and even Ireland and passing through that stage, I don’t think there is any team we are scared of playing against. The mindset we had that qualified us for the round of 16 is the same mindset we are using to play any other team, we don’t even care who they are.”

The Super Falcons captain added, “One thing about this World Cup and the Super Falcons is that people don’t believe in us. They thought we couldn’t make it past the group stage. We were written off like we were just coming to participate. We were in a tough group and no team was a pushover, but they didn’t even expect us to beat any team in the group stage.

“That’s actually a motivation for us because we know what the World Cup is and what is at stake. Knowing people don’t believe in us is a motivation and personally, I see negative comments as motivation to go further. So, it’s like a blessing for us that nobody believed in us. That is what is working for us.”