Super Falcons coach Randy Waldrum is confident he has the squad to retain the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations later this year in Morocco.

The American was talking after the nine-time champions were drawn to face South Africa as well as two debutant sides, Burundi and Botswana, in Group C of July’s tournament.

The Super Falcons are also looking to maintain their record of having qualified to play at every Women’s World Cup since it began in 1991 with the four semi-finalists at the tournament qualifying for the 2023 finals.

“I’ve said all along, I feel strongly about this group of players that we have,” he said.

“You know, I’ve had a year now to look at probably 40 or 50 different players. And I think now, we’ve narrowed that group down and I feel very strong and comfortable about this group, I believe in them.

“So obviously, I think our chances of being champions once again are very strong. And of course, we also understand we have to be prepared.”

The draw means that there will be a repeat of the last Women’s Nations Cup final that saw Nigeria beat South Africa on penalties in Ghana in 2018.

Waldrum said that it was inevitable that the two sides would meet at some stage in the tournament.

“As far as meeting South Africa, again, I haven’t really concerned myself too much with it because we know we’re going to have to play good teams somewhere along the way in the tournament,” he added.

“We felt all along, we would meet South Africa at some point. So we just have to be prepared as we will be against them this time around.

“We can’t treat them any differently in terms of preparation as we do for any of the other teams in our group. We’re going to have to be prepared for all the three teams.”