Four-nation tourney: Nigeria’s Super Falcons defeat Romania

Nigeria’s Super Falcons on Sunday trounced the women national team of Romania 4-1 in the third-place match at the ongoing four-nation invitational tournament in China. Super Falcons who are the current African women champions, had lost 3-0 to host China on Thursday. But they put up a better display on Sunday to overcome their European opponents. It was Chiwendu Ihezuo that got the opening goal for the Falcons in Sunday’s encounter; scoring in the 44th minute but the Europeans leveled the game 10 minutes into the second half. The Falcons seized the initiative afterwards as skipper and defender Onome Ebi put Nigeria back in front in the 63rd minutes before Rita Chikwelu made it 3-1 in favour of Nigeria. England-based Ini Umotong put the icing on the cake as she netted the 4th goal in the 83rd minutes to give the Super Falcons a resounding as well as morale-boosting win. Sunday’s win ensured that the Nigerian ladies finished in third place behind China and Korea who will be slugging it out in the final match of the four-nation Invitational tournament later today. Next on the agenda for Super Falcons is the Cyprus Women Cup starting from February 27, 2019. The Super Falcons are using the various tournaments to prepare for the Women’s World Cup coming up later this year in France.