Super Falcons forward Toni Payne was full of excitement following the team’s 8-1 demolition of the Queensland Lions in Australia in a pre-Women’s World Cup friendly on Saturday morning

Payne, who scored a goal in the friendly, said the Falcons were ready to fight against their opponents in Group B.

Nigeria are paired alongside Olympic champions Canada, co-hosts Australia and the Republic of Ireland and face a tough challenge advancing from the group phase.

“I think as a team we played well, our objective is to grow and improve our system in every game and every training, I think we did that today (Saturday). Step by step we are improving and getting prepared for our first game against Canada,” Payne said.

“We are very confident. With the players we have here, we are at the same level as them (Australia) and we are ready to fight.”

Barcelona Femeni star forward Asisat Oshoala bagged a brace for Nigeria in the 8-1 rout.

It was the Falcons’ first friendly since they set up camp in Gold Coast, Australia ahead of the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

The Falcons dominated the game from start to finish, pinning their opponents to the back.

Ifeoma Onumonu, Halimat Ayinde, Rasheedat Ajibade, Uchenna Kanu and Gift Monday scored the other goals for Randy Waldrum’s side.

The Falcons had not played a friendly game before the demolition of Queensland Lions, and relieved fans sang their praises on social media following the emphatic win.

Waldrum’s squad will now focus on their opening fixture at the World Cup against Olympic champions, Canada, on Friday.

Meanwhile, group opponents and co-hosts Australia pipped European powerhouses France 1-0 in their warmup game on Friday.

Tearful Wimbledon runner-up Ons Jabeur on Saturday described her third defeat in a Grand Slam final as the “most painful” of her career but vowed to bounce back and break her jinx at the majors.

World number six Jabeur was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by unseeded Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, one year after she lost the Wimbledon final to Elena Rybakina

More pain followed at the US Open later in the year where she was runner-up again, this time to Iga Swiatek.

The 28-year-old is the eighth woman to lose her first three Grand Slam finals although she can take comfort from knowing that Chris Evert and Kim Clijsters suffered the same fate before going on to capture multiple titles.

“It will be tough to speak. I am going to look ugly in the photos so that’s not going to help,” Jabeur told the Centre Court crowd.

“I think this is the most painful loss of my career.”

She added defiantly: “I promise I will come back one day and win this tournament.”

Jabeur led 2-0 and 4-2 in the first set on Saturday before the 24-year-old Vondrousova hit back.

The Tunisian’s 15 unforced errors in the first set were key as the Czech left-hander committed a miserly six.

Jabeur was 3-1 ahead in the second set but still couldn’t convert the advantage as Vondrousova, who missed last year’s Wimbledon due to wrist surgery, mounted another comeback.

“Congratulations to Marketa. You’re an amazing player. I know you have had a lot of injuries so I am very happy for you,” said Jabeur after her third defeat this year to the Czech.

“It’s going to be a tough day for me today. I’m not going to give up. I’m going to come back stronger and win a Grand Slam one day.”

FIFA this day on its website celebrates Nigeria’s forward, Rasheedat Ajibade as part of the countdown to the Women’s World Cup jointly being hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

Ajibade, a forward in the women’s squad of Atletico Madrid is one of Nigeria’s great hopes.

“I think she has the potential to be one of the best players in the world.” Nigeria coach Randy Waldrum  remarked while  discussing Ajibade with FIFA.com.

“…she is in no doubt an exciting attacker – “technically unbelievable, great pace” – can scale the summit of the beautiful game.”

Ajibade herself, the self-described “girl with the blue hair”, holds similarly lofty ambitions for her burgeoning career.

But the 23-year-old said that her achievements thus far – which include finishing joint-top scorer at last year’s CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations and excelling for Spanish giants Atletico Madrid – already represent something of a miracle.

“Looking backwards, l can’t comprehend [what I’ve done] considering how I grew up, and the kind of challenges I went through as a child,” she explains.

“Nothing to eat, walking on the street, going to the market, selling, coming back late at night, sometimes going to help families like a ‘house-girl’ just to get a token or a penny to survive. Stuff like that, and yet you would still be treated like trash. It was really terrible. Now, I know that God has a plan for me.”

Still smarting under a recent paternity row on a Cape Verde girl and call for his resignation,  African football legend and president of Cameroon football federation (FECAFOOT), Samuel Eto’o has entered another problem.

A former third vice president of FECAFOOT, Henry Njalla Quan, has accused Eto’o as being responsible for the row in the camp of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon at the last World Cup in Qatar.

He accused Eto’o of lying, manipulation and embezzlement in his management of the episode.

Last November at the World Cup in Qatar, Andre Onana was decamped. Quan, according to Spanish publication, Marca,  pointed at Eto’o as being responsible for the goalkeeper’s expulsion.

The Spanish publication further revealed that Quan asserted that Onana’s return to the Cameroon national team depends on Eto’o.

“André Onana’s call for the national team depends on the president of Fecafoot. I asked him formally about the future of our goalkeeper in the national team, and he replied that the boy’s career is over, and that the letter he sent to his club – Inter FC – was to get rid of him, so how can someone be so mean?” Henri Njalla Quan was quoted as saying.

“André Onana’s call for the national team depends on the president of Fecafoot . I asked him formally about the future of our goalkeeper in the national team, and he replied that the boy’s career is over, and that the letter he sent to his club – Inter FC – was to get rid of him, so how can someone be so mean?” Henri Njalla Quan said.

Henri Njalla Quan explained the real reason for the expulsion of André Onana from the World Cup in Qatar. It was because the president of the Cameroon Football Association, Samuel Eto’o, was desperate to get rid of the Inter goalkeeper .

During the press conference, Henri Njalla Quan denounced many other irregularities, which led him to resign from his position: “The stars of the national team are being suffocated by someone who himself was a star when he was a footballer and who wants to continue being a coach He is present in all the meetings, in all the training sessions. Even the coach feels suffocated by Eto’o’s omnipresence”.

The former FECFOOT official also accused Eto’o of not being transparent in financial matters.  “I used my pocket money to make donations to the soccer players. Eto’o promised not to touch his salary as president of FECAFOOT, where is that promise? Today, FECAFOOT is in debt of several tens of billions of francs, whose fault is it?” continues Henri Njalla Quan.

“No member of the FECAFOOT general assembly ever proposed extending the term of the president from four to seven years. The only thing that was discussed was increasing the number of terms for the president from two to three terms of four years, as occurs in CAF and FIFA. Eto’o has manipulated an entire country!”

The complaint from the former third vice president of the Cameroon Football Federation continues: “I was president of the FECAFOOT marketing committee, but I did not have access to any document related to the different sponsors. I do not know how much the contracts with One All Sports amount to, Orange and MTN. I have requested these documents on several occasions, the last time questioning the president, but the employees of the Federation told me that they would not give them to me…”.

Henri Njalla Quan even assures that Samuel investigated him. “Eto’o gave 1 million francs to a football official to monitor me, and this man started threatening my family. I contacted the prosecutor, who took steps to guarantee my safety. President Samuel Eto’ or held a meeting with the other members of the executive committee at the Starland Hotel, during which he said that he no longer trusted me because I asked too many questions.”

Regarding his resignation, he explained: “I don’t regret having resigned. Things were not going the way I wanted. In the southwestern region, I gave material to the clubs, the players and the referees. I even gave financial support to certain media outlets. communication, even if they insult me today. I have spent about 10 million francs”.

“In the executive committee of FECAFOOT there are competent people, such as teachers, councilors and others. I don’t understand how they can be manipulated to such an extent. If I were them, I would be ashamed“, Quan concluded.

Carlos Alcaraz heralded the changing of the guard in men’s tennis as he ended Novak Djokovic’s long reign at Wimbledon with a rip-roaring 1-6 7-6(6) 6-1 3-6 6-4 victory to win the All England Club title for the first time on Sunday.

The 36-year-old Serbian had been indestructible on Wimbledon’s Centre Court for a decade but finally met his match as he ran out of ideas to stop young gun Alcaraz from hurtling towards the title.

After the 20-year-old had broken for a 2-1 lead in the fifth set with a stupendous passing shot winner, Djokovic’s racket felt the full force of his anger as he smashed it against the wooden net post to leave it in a mangled mess.

That earned Djokovic a second warning in the contest, with the world number two having also been cautioned earlier for taking too much time to launch into his serves.

All that distraction failed to throw Alcaraz off course as he became the youngest man since 18-year-old Boris Becker in 1986 to win the Challenge Cup after Djokovic scooped a forehand into the net, leaving the Spaniard to collapse on to his back in his moment of triumph.

Nigeria’s Super Eagles have been drawn in Group C alongside South Africa, Benin Republic, Rwanda, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

The draws ceremony was held on Thursday in Abidjan, Cote’d’Ivoire.

The West African side missed out on the last year’s World Cup in Qatar having lost to the Black Stars of Ghana in the playoffs.

The Eagles’ tie with West-African neighbours, Benin Republic will be the first against former manager, Gernot Rohr since he was relieved from his position in 2021.

Nigeria will qualify automatically for the expanded World Cup to be co-hosted by the United States of America, Mexico, and Canada if they finish first from their group at the end of the group games.

Meanwhile, the four best runners-up from the groups will play in a CAF Play-Off tournament.

The winner of the CAF Play-Off Tournament will, however, play in the FIFA Play-off Tournament.

The first round of games is slated to take place between November 13-21 but it is unknown when the Super Eagles will play their first match.

See the full draw:

Group A: Egypt, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Djibouti

Group B: Senegal, Congo DR, Mauritania, Togo, Sudan, South Sudan

Group C: Nigeria, South Africa, Benin, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Lesotho

Group D: Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Angola, Libya, Eswatini, Mauritius

Group E: Morocco, Zambia, Congo, Tanzania, Niger, Eritrea

Group F: Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Kenya, The Gambia, Burundi, Seychelles

Group G: Algeria, Guinea, Uganda, Mozambique, Botswana, Somalia

Group H: Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, Namibia, Malawi, Liberia, São Tomé and Príncipe

Group I: Mali, Ghana, Madagascar, Central African Republic, Comoros, Chad