By John Mendy
Nigeria women national team Coach Thomas Dennerby has said that his final squad to face the Gambia in June will include a blend of ten professional and home-based players already in camp, Standard Sports can exclusively reveal.
Gambia will face Nigeria in the final phase of the 2018 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) qualifiers on Tuesday 5th June at the Independence Stadium in Bakau.
Head Coach of Nigeria Thomas Dennerby has last week invited 26 local players to camp in Abuja ahead of the double header against Gambia.
“This is not the final squad; it is just a camp for domestic players. The other players will start to arrive around on May 28.
“So the final squad is going to have ten professional players from abroad and ten others from the domestic league.
“We are just monitoring these players in order to find out who are going to be the best mix with the professional players to give us success against the Gambia in June.”, Head Coach Dennerby said.
It is the first time Gambia has entered the qualifiers at this level of Women’s Football and has crossed the first hurdle after they dumped Burkina Faso 5 – 4 on penalties after both legs had finished 3 –3 on aggregate in April.
Both coaches (Mariama Sowe-Gambia and Thomas Dennerby-Nigeria) do not have enough knowledge about each other’s strength and are heavily relying on footages for tactical approaches.
Gambia, who is seeking its first ever nations cup appearance, will first host the Super Falcons of Nigeria in Banjul on Tuesday 5th June at 4:30 pm. The return fixture is slated for a week later (Tuesday 12th June) in Calabar.
The winner from the double tie will join seven other nations to the 11th edition of the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) to be held in Ghana between November 17 to December 1 2018.
The tournament will be played across two cities, Accra and Cape Coast.
