It’s crunch time in Benin as teams seek final tickets

Aduku, Osahon look beyond semifinals The dreamers have been separated from the realists at the ongoing Betsy Obaseki Women Football Tournament. On Monday, losers in the quarterfinals and those who didn’t even make it to that exalted stage were given their dues for being part of the most important women football pre-season competition in Nigeria.

Now, the potential champions have opportunity to show why they deserve that honour, starting with today’s semifinals.

And it cannot be tougher than the pairings, with home team, Edo Queens, billed to face former Nigerian champions, Nasarawa Amazons, just as Lagos-based FC Robo will try their luck against another heavyweight in the country’s women football, Delta Queens.

The first semifinal between Edo Queens and Nasarawa Queens FC will hold at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium by 1.00 p.m., while FC Robo and Delta Queens will enter the fray at the same venue by 4.00 p.m.

To qualify for the semifinals, Edo Queens beat Heartland Queens of Owerri 4-0, while Nasarawa Amazons defeated hard-fighting Naija Ratels 3-2.

FC Robo Queens had a comfortable ride to the semifinals, beating Confluence Queens 6-0 in the quarterfinals, while Delta Queens scraped past Royal Queens 2-1.

Speaking ahead of today’s battle against Nasarawa Amazons, Edo Queens Coach, Moses Aduku, acknowledged that his side must be more clinical today than they were in their previous games.

“We created many goal scoring opportunities in the last three games, but couldn’t score most of them. We need to be more clinical in front of goal when we face Nasarawa Amazons,” he said.

In their last game against Heartland on Monday, Eunice Godwin recorded a hat trick, as Edo Queens romped to a 4-0 win.

That is the form Aduku wants his players to