NRWF Champions Shield winners, Rivers Angels, celebrating with their trophy after the match played at the Agege Stadium…on Sunday.
Sunday’s Nigerian Women Football League’s (NWFL) Charity Shield was a win-win competition for both Rivers Angels and Nasarawa Amazons.
Both teams clashed at the Agege Stadium on Sunday to decide the champion of champions in the Nigerian women football, but the match turned out to be an eye-opener for the gaffers, who have not stopped extolling the brains behind the competition.
Nasarawa Amazons lost the NWFL Champions Shield prize to Rivers Angels 3-4 through a penalty shoot out after the regular period had ended 1-1. But despite the loss, Nasarawa Amazon’s Coach, Chris Danjuma said the game has shown him another dimension to his team.
Alice Ogebe opened scores for Rivers Angels in the first half of the keenly contested encounter, but Adejoke Ejalonibu levelled the scores for the Lafia outfit to stretch the clash to penalty shootouts.
Speaking after the game, Danjuma said, “We are not making excuses for the loss, but we were not totally fit for the game. There is match form and training form and I don’t think we are a 100 percent yet.
“The Champions Shield has come and gone, it is history right now as we shift our attention to the league.
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“We go into each competition respecting our opponents, we have already set a target for ourselves to go higher than we did in the previous season.
“We were league champions last season but not Aiteo Cup winners, so we want to win double in the coming football season,” he said.
To Rivers Angels Coach, Sunday’s game was more than just another victory.
Being Charity Shield champion is a huge accomplishment, he said, adding, “I’m the happiest person at the moment because I fielded a player, Anna Yusuf, from an academy here in Lagos for 90 minutes. This is a player that has never played in the league to prove to all that at Rivers Angels we do not believe in super stars but the fittest players.
“We are returning to the trenches to prepare properly for the league. We have won the Champions Shield, but we will not allow the success to go to our heads.
“The league is a different ball game compared with the Champions Shield. We will correct our lapses and set the stage right to compete for the league and Aiteo Cup shields.”
Also speaking on the competition, NWFL Chairperson, Aisha Falode thanked Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, “who came to support us within a short notice.
“It shows that he is truly a leader and the best way to thank him is by making the competition bigger and better than this one.
“We at the NWFL are ready to bring innovations to women football because we want to rank among the best like the Swedens, USAs, South Koreas and Denmarks of the world.”
Source: G Sport
