AWCON: Falcons’ victory, a surprise —Oluehi

Super Falcons goalkeeper, Tochukwu Oluehi has said she was surprised that Nigeria emerged winners of the 10th Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) which ended on Saturday in Cameroon.

The Falcons pipped hosts, the Indomitable Lionesses 1-0 in Saturday’s AWCON final at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde to claim their eighth African title.

Forward, Desire Oparanozie scored the all-important goal in the 84th minute to hand the side their two successive final wins against the Central Africans.

The Medkila IL keeper, Oluehi said time has come for the Nigerians to take their dominance on the continent to the world stage.

“Sincerely, I did not see Super Falcons winning the title at the expense of the hosts, Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon mainly because of the hosts’ factor.

“I experienced the hosts’ factor in 2008 in Equatorial Guinea, the referee did everything to ensure the Equatorial Guinean side won the championship so I feared a similar thing will happen again in Cameroon.

“However, the referees today (Saturday) proved themselves the true unbiased umpires, they handled the match perfectly well not minding who the hosts are in the clash.

“The referees took the final match to the highest level and I think African women football is the biggest gainers.

“Falcons have seen everything in Africa I think time has come for them to take their exploits to the World Cup, we must up our game further to achieve the landmark.

“Cameroon proved that they wanted to win the final clash for the first time with every intent and purpose, they put Falcons to several unbearable pressure throughout the game.

“I think hard luck was their greatest undoing, we had just one chance and made it count positively, I say kudos to Falcons,” the former Rivers Angels and Sunshine Queens keeper told supersport.com.

Nigeria, it will be recalled, also defeated Cameroon two years ago in the final of the AWCON 2-0.