Julio-Chitunda-Column
13/10/2014
Julio Chitunda's African Message
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Mozambique climbs, Nigeria falls

SHEFFIELD (Julio Chitunda's African Message) - The unfinished business of the women's national teams of Mozambique and Nigeria resurfaced last week after the the FIBA bwin World Ranking Women was updated following the conclusion of the 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women.

Mozambique climbed 11 places to 27th in the world to become the fourth highest ranked African women's team. They surpassed Nigeria, who plummeted 14 spots to 46th overall and fifth best on the continent.

Despite losing all three of their games at Turkey 2014, the tournament improved Mozambique's prestige.

Only the 17th-ranked Serbia climbed more places (12) than Mozambique, while Nigeria recorded the biggest fall, in large part due to their failure to qualify for the FIBA World Championship for Women.

This is Mozambique's highest position ever in FIBA bwin World Ranking Women. It comes as a result of their determination to compete against the best in the world, a strategy that played a part in Nigeria's fall as I will explain later in this column.

Mozambique-Nigeria  games have been and will continue to be a long affair. It's one that began over a decade ago when Nigeria beat hosts Mozambique in their capital of Maputo in the Final of AfroBasket Women 2003, which punched the Nigerians' ticket to the 2004 Athen Olympics.

Two years later, playing in front of their fans in Abuja, hosts Nigeria defended their continental crown - and qualified for the 2006 FIBA World Championship for Women in Brazil - while the Mozambicans finished third.

The storyline at the time was the Nigerians as the dominant force on the African scene, while the others struggled to match their dominance.

From the competitiveness as well as quality point of view, these two teams tend to share more similarities than differences. The Nigerians enjoy a 3-2 edge in five contests played in five editions of FIBA Africa's highest women competition since 2003.

The more Nigeria and Mozambique face each other, the more chances and reasons for their rivalry increase.

Take last summer's encounter as an example.

It was Quarter-Final day at AfroBasket Women 2013 in Maputo when the hosts - boosted by a sellout and non-stop chanting crowd at the Maxaquene Gym - led by as many as 16 points before the break, when the unexpected happened.

First, an outstanding Sarah Ogoke, then a sudden power cut inside the gym which forced the game to stop for over 15 minutes when Nigeria led.

Ogoke - keep her name in mind as she may step on a bigger stage if she keeps playing the way she did in Maputo - proved again that trailing by 16 in certain circumstances may not mean the game is over if one is determined enough to compete.

I insist in saying that Ogoke, who played most of the game with a bandage after suffering a head injury, probably had one of the best performances of her career as she edged Nigeria into a 74-71 lead with 35 seconds remaining before Valerdina Manhonga hit a three-pointer to tie the contest and Leia Dongue inflicted the final blow with a three-pointer just over the final buzzer to seal a 77-74 victory and a place in the Semi-Finals.

Eventually, Nigeria's head coach Scott Nnaji and his players were left frustrated even though they gave all they had.

He was so disappointed with the result that minutes after the game he was yet to believe how his players' fight-back spirit had just evaporated.

"I don't know how these things happen," he told me at the time, before remaining speechless for long seconds of our conversation.

This was just a snapshot of what these two teams have offered over the past few years.

Both teams will likely continue to build on their rivalry when they compete at AfroBasket Women 2015 in Cameroon for Africa's only place on offer for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Nevertheless, Mozambique's current achievement at senior level, combined with their third place at the U18 African Championship last month in Cairo, Egypt, increases their chances of winning a possible meeting with Nigeria, whose youth teams last competed in African competitions four years ago.

As the fourth highest ranked women's team in Africa, the Mozambicans trail reigning continental champions Angola, who  are ahead of Mali and Senegal.

Julio Chitunda

FIBA

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

FIBA takes no responsibility and gives no guarantees, warranties or representations, implied or otherwise, for the content or accuracy of the content and opinion expressed in the above article.

Julio Chitunda

Julio Chitunda

Julio Chitunda, a University of Sheffield alumni and former semi-professional player, has worked for a number of Portuguese media outlets as well as The Press Association and covered international basketball for over a decade. Through his column, he offers an insight into basketball on the world's second biggest continent.