NAMIBIA 2014: Falcons off to flying start

Nigeria Super Falcons got off on soaring wings in their African Women Champi­onship (AWC) campaign, thumping hard talking Les El­ephantes of Cote d’Ivoire 4-2 in the second match of the opening day at the Sam Nujoma Stadium in Wind­hoek, Namibia Saturday evening.
In a weekend that saw Super Eagles’ fall flat in their AFCON 2015 qualifiers in far away Khartoum, Sudan , Falcons gave the nation something to cheer about registering their presence in Namibia with Desire Oparanozie scoring a brace for the six times champions.
Super Falcons began the match with the duo of Asisat Oshoala and Desire Oparanzie bombarding the fellow West Africans and wanted to make lasting impressions.

After dominating the opening exchanges, the Falcons came close to opening the scoring in the ninth minute, but striker Desire Oparanozie fired inches wide of the upright from a tight angle.
In the 12th minute, FK Minsk of Belarus striker, Esther Sunday broke the deadlock by latching onto a midfield pass from Ngozi Okobi and clinically slotted the ball past the Ivorian goal keeper. However, Ivory Coast leveled in the 20th minute through a penalty.
Esther Sunday should have re­stored the Falcons’ lead in the 50th minute, but the striker blasted over from close range.In the 55th minutes of the proceedings, Les Elephan­tes gifted Falcons with the desired lead with an own goal from Miriam Diakite
The Falcons added a third in the 74th minute, as Oparanozie buried the ball home form six-yard thanks to another great assist by Okobi .
However, Ivory Coast pulled one back a minute later through to a com­posed finish from Christine Lohoues.
Oparanozie eventually sealed the win in the 87th minute with a clinical finish from close range, after being picked out by Asisat Oshoala.
Nigeria is leading Group A with three points, just as hosts Namibia who dealt 2-0 to debutantes Zambia.