Toni Payne: Nigeria star expects dominant display against Cape Verde

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde 

Nigeria midfielder, Toni Payne is confident her will dominate their Cape Verdean opponents when both sides trade tackles in the final round of Qualifiers for the 2024 Women’s African Cup of Nations (WAFCON) on Thursday.

Super Falcons  made it to the final round of the qualifiers after Sao Tome and Principe withdrew from the last round and need a win on aggregate to make it to another WAFCON.

Almost all the invited players for the clash are in camp as the team is in high spirits for the two-legged encounter and the Sevilla star is upbeat about a convincing first leg win in Abuja.

“The mood in the camp is obviously very high and the girls are happy to see each other,” Payne told NFFTV.

“I haven’t actually heard much about them (Cape Verde). They are very unknown in terms of how they play or build. We are hoping to study some videos about them.

“We just build up on how we normally do and play. Keeping the ball in order to make it hard for other people to score. We plan to build up from the back and attack.”

Nigeria lost on penalties to 2022 hosts, Morocco and also eventually failed to pick any medal after a 1-0 defeat to Zambia in a third-place match in Rabat.

Payne hopes the team can reclaim the title next time out in Morocco come 2024.

“In the semi-final match, we weren’t able to make it to the final against South Africa so we are hoping this time around we will have a different angle and lift the trophy,” she added.

The Super Falcons will host the first leg of the fixture against their counterparts from Cape Verde at the MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Thursday, 30th November, with the second leg scheduled for the Santiago-Estadio Nacional Blue Shark in Praia on Tuesday, 5th December.