Botswana vs Nigeria - What Super Falcons Should Bear in Mind Going into the Second Match in AWCON 2022

 

Now Super Falcons second game against Botswana may be trickly in so many ways, and may also be the deciding match for the Nigerian ladies.  

Zebras of Botswana:

Botswana ladies play their football just like the South Africans and also play 4-4-2. The Zebras may be debutants in the tournament, but scoring 4 goals in their first game suggests they may also be a high scoring side.

Botswana won their first game with Burundi 4 - 2 and that gave them a lot of advantage. Now, Nigeria must work to defeat the Zebras comprehensively, because a draw may just be too dangerous. 

Why? you may ask.

If Botswana draw with the Falcons, South Africa may then decide to draw with their neighbour in the third Group games and technically eliminate the Nigerians even if they eventually win Burundi.

Swallows of Burundi

Burundi ladies are no walk over, because looking at their first game against Botswana, they were better in terms of stats, but couldn't just slot the ball into the net. If the Swallows manage a draw against Banyana Banyana, then there will definitely be a tie.

Super Falcons should understand how things will be decided if there eventually be a tie in the group. so, let us look at the tiebreaker.

Tiebreaker

Fair play points will be used as tiebreakers in the group if the overall and head-to-head records of teams were tied, or if teams had the same record in the ranking of third-placed teams. These are calculated based on yellow and red cards received in all group matches as follows:

first yellow card: - 1 point;

indirect red card (second yellow card): - 3 points;

direct red card: - 4 points; yellow card and direct red card: - 5 points;

Now, after the match day 1 the fair play points read as follows:

 South Africa = 0,  Nigeria = –1;  Burundi = -2;   Botswana = –3