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‘La Decima’ seeking Super Falcons open title defence with South African clash on 4 July

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BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

Multiple times defending champions, Nigeria Super Falcons, seeking what the Spanish call ‘La Décima’ – a 10th title,  will begin their latest title defence with a potentially titanic battle with their fiercest opponents, the South African Bayana Bayana.

It was in similar fashion that they opened their 2016 title defence in Cape Coast Stadium, Ghana when the 2018 edition kicked off.

Super Falcons lost that opening game, 1-0 but recovered enough to beat the South Africans in the final match which initially ended goalless after extra time. The Nigerian side prevailed 4-3 on penalties to win their ninth title.

Indeed, they have an unfinished business with the South Africans when they meet them again on 4 July at the Prince Héritier Moulay El Hassan Stadium in Rabat.

The South Africans shocked the Falcons in Lagos with a 4-2 defeat last September when they met in the last match of the Aisha Buhari invitational tournament.

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On match day two of Group C on 7 July, the Falcons will be having their very first encounter with Botswana.

While they will face Burundi on 10 July in another match which is the first ever between the two teams. The opening match of the tournament will be between hosts, Morocco and Burkina Faso.

Cameroon will face Zambia in the Group B opening match.

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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