Holders Nigeria faced a reality as Senegal held them to a 1-1 draw in their first leg final round qualifier on Friday in Dakar.
The Super Falcons, the most successful side in the history of the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations with seven titles, failed to glitter in a match they were highly tipped to make light work of their hosts.
It was the Nigerians who went up just before the break through substitute Chioma Wogu, who replaced injured Desire Oparanozie, before the homers rallied back through Binta Diakhate five minutes after the break.
The Falcons, who have appeared at every edition of the showpiece women’s tournament since its inception host the return leg on Tuesday in Abuja, with the aim to make it 10 out of 10.
A visibly disappointed Senegal coach, Mame Moussa Cisse said: “There are a lot of regrets tonight because we could have managed a much better result against Nigeria. We can be satisfied with the performance of the young team which showed a lot of promise. They played without complex against a highly rated Nigerian team and it was bad we conceded just before half time”.
“It was a very physical game and technically, I think the fans are satisfied with what they saw. It was a game between two good teams, and we had several chances in the first half. We managed to get a draw and we will go back to Abuja to complete from where we started. Our goal is to go to Cameroon and defend our title, and that means a good performance in the return leg,” said Nigeria coach Florence Omagbemi.
Kenya remain on course for a first ever appearance at the final tournament after holding Algeria to a 2-2 draw away in Algiers. The East Africans were on the path of victory before veteran forward Naima Bouhenni headed home the equalizer two minutes from time.
Youngster Jereko Adoum gave Kenya the lead on 80 minutes after an own goal by Algeria captain Fatima Sekouane on 65 minutes levelled Bouhenni’s first half opener.
In Cairo last Thursday, Egypt shocked Cote d’Ivoire with a lone goal victory, to make clear their intent of a comeback to the biggest stage of women’s football for the first time since 1998. Yasmin Samir scored the only goal on 43 minutes.
Results/Fixtures
Wednesday, 6 April 2016
Mali 1-1 Equatorial Guinea
Zimbabwe 1-0 Zambia
Tunisia 1-2 Ghana
Thursday, 7 April 2016
Egypt 1-0 Cote d’Ivoire
Friday, 8 April 2016
Algeria 2-2 Kenya
Senegal 1-1 Nigeria
Saturday, 9 April 2016
Botswana vs South Africa
SECOND LEG
Sunday, 10 April 2016
Equatorial Guinea vs Mali
Zambia vs Zimbabwe
Monday, 11 April 2016
Cote d’Ivoire vs Egypt
Tuesday, 12 April 2016
Kenya vs Algeria
Nigeria vs Senegal
Ghana vs Tunisia
South Africa vs Botswana
Source: CAF