Confluence Queens FC of Lokoja are banking on the return of their top goalkeeper, Sylvia Echefu, from the under-17 female national team, Flamingoes to help them win their next match in the Nigerian Women Football League (NWFL) Super-6.
The team from Kogi State lost their first match 5-1 against Edo Queens of Benin City on Saturday, with many observers blaming the scandalous defeat on poor goalkeeping and a disorganised defence.
Read Also: NWFL SUPER-6: Edo Queens’ Goodness Osigwe Happy With Brace Against Former Team
However, heading into Monday’s fixture versus Heartland Queens of Owerri, a member of Confluence Queens’ coaching crew, Micah Esade enthused that it will be a different story with Echefu between the posts.
The goalkeeper is still fresh from Nigeria’s 6-0 trouncing of Burkina Faso at Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja, and qualified 7-1 aggregate to the next round of the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers.
Coach Esade is now enthusiastic that having Echefu back in the squad will help Confluence Queens snatch a revival in the 2024 NWFL Super-6, even as she stressed that Saturday’s loss was only a temporary setback.
Esade declared philosophically: “I felt bad and, as a team, we all felt bad. But, the truth is that ‘better is the end of the matter than the beginning thereof.’
“In the next match, we will come out fully, by the grace of God. We expect our goalkeeper to return from the under-17 camp.
“So, I think, with her, we will give a good fight, and I see us end with victory. There is nothing God cannot do. We will come out fully and take the three points, by God’s grace.”
The fixture between Confluence Queens and Heartland Queens will be the third and last game of Match Day 2 of the 2024 NWFL Super-6 at Samson Siasia Stadium, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State at 2 pm on Monday.
