By Amaechi Agbo

Uchenna Kanu was the heroine of the day in Lagos as Super Falcons of Nigeria defeated Black Queens of Ghana 2-0 in the 2022 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations, AWCON qualifier on Wednesday.

The Linkopings FC of Sweden attacker scored two first half goals to hand Randy Waldrum’s ladies the driving seat in the first half.

The prolific striker netted the opener in the 21st minute and rapped up the second on 5 minutes later to score all the goals needed by the nine-time champions to send the visitors home empty handed.

Both the Falcons and Black Queens are seen as powerhouses as far as women football is concerned in Africa but one of them will miss the action at Morrocco 2022 with the newly-adopted qualification system by CAF.

Missing out on the AWCON would be a costly option for both Nigeria and Ghana as it effectively means also automatically missing out on a chance to be at the World Cup.

Ghana and Nigeria have met in 17 previous matches, before Wednesday’s clash with the Super Falcons dominating with nine wins – compared to three victories registered by the Black Queens.

The 12th Women Africa Cup of Nations, scheduled for Morocco in the summer of next year, will also serve as the qualifying tournament for the 32-team 2023 FIFA World Cup finals in Australia and New Zealand in 2023, meaning that the team that loses out in the Ghana/Nigeria fixture will be without meaningful shooting practice until the qualifiers for the 2024 AFCON finals are activated.