Falcons get host, Tanzania, Cote d’Ivoire 

The national Under-23 team has been drawn in the same group with hosts, Congo Brazzaville, Egypt and Senegal in the football event of the All Africa Games scheduled for the East African country in September.

In the draws held yesterday at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, Nigeria’s women team, the Super Falcons, will also play the hosts, Congo Brazzaville, Cote d’Ivoire and Tanzania in Group A of the football event. Although Nigeria’s pool has been rated a tough one going by the pedigree of the teams there, national U-23 Coach, Samson Siasia, says he sis sure that his wards would survive the competition.

Siasia, whose team is currently in Port Harcourt preparing for their Rio 2016 Olympics qualifier against Congo, said the draw has just given him more reasons to continue to work to get his team right for the challenges. “This Group B is a tough one for all the countries and to qualify from it we have to be at our best,” he said.

He added: “All I can say for now is that we are not afraid of any of them, and will know what to do when we get to that bridge.” Siasia added that for now, all his concentration is on the African U-23 Championship qualifying fixture home and away to Congo, as that is of immediate importance.

In the women draw of the All Africa Games, the Super Falcons will tackle hosts, Congo Brazzaville, Tanzania and Cote d’Ivoire. Africa’s best team at the just concluded Women World Cup in Canada, Cameroun’s Indomitable Lionesses, are in the same group with South Africa’s Banyana Banyana, Ghana’s Black Queens and Egypt’s Lady Pharaohs in a fierce Group B.

The Super Falcons defeated the Ivoirian Lady Elephants 4-2 in the opening match of the 2014 African Women Championship (AWC), which they won in Namibia. The AAG hosts, Congo will take on Nigeria in the opening match, while Tanzania will clash with Cote d’Ivoire. All matches will be played in Brazzaville. Falcons did not qualify for the immediate past edition of the games in Maputo, Mozambique.