Nigeria’s female national football team, the Super Falcons, have been dumped out of the ongoing women’s world Cup in Canada by the USA.
The Falcons, led by coach Edwin Okon, were defeated 0-1 by the USA in their last group D match played early morning on Wednesday.
The only goal of the match was scored in the 45th minute of the first half by experienced American striker Abby Wambach.
Though the Nigerian team tried frantically to cancel out the goal they were denied goal scoring opportunities by the compact American defense.
The sending off of Nigeria’s defender, Sarah Nnodim, early in the second half ,did not help matters for the African side as the Americans took control of majority of play in the remaining part of the half.
Precious Dede’s heroics meant there would be no more goals in the contest as the Americans closed out a richly deserved win.
With the defeat, Nigeria had thus failed to progress to the knock-out phase of the tournament while the USA tops the group with two victories and one defeat.
Nigeria finished bottom of the group with a solitary point after their three preliminary matches.
VANCOUVER, BC – JUNE 16: Carli Lloyd #10 celebrates after teammate Abby Wambach #20 of the United States scores a goal in the first half against Nigeria in the Group D match of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 at BC Place Stadium on June 16, 2015 in Vancouver, Canada. (Photo by Rich Lam/Getty Images)
The other group match saw Australia played out 1-1 with Sweden which ensured that Aussies qualify for the knockout phase as they finish second in the group that had been termed ‘Group of Death’.
Meanwhile, former Super Falcons coach, Rolandson Odeh, has said the side gave good account of themselves against the USA).
In an interview with Supersport, Odeh said Falcons would have hit the knockout stage gracefully if they had shown same resilience in the past two games to Sweden and Australia.
He said: “Falcons gave good account of themselves against the United States of America even with one man down in the clash.
“If they had played similarly in the past matches to Sweden and Australia nothing would have stopped them from booking passage to the knockout stage of the championship.
“The coaches for once got his selection and substitutions quite perfectly and the additions did not disappoint.
“The starting shirts given to Esther Sunday, Courtney Dike, Sarah Nnodim worked perfectly to assist the likes of Evelyn Nwabuoku, Ngozi Okobi as well as the coming in of Cecilia Nku and Halimatu Ayinde.
“I think today’s approach would have served us quite well in the championship but it looks too late in the day to cry.
“Everyone had thought that this squad presents the country another wonderful opportunity to surpass the 1999 quarterfinal performance but it was not to be.
“Regrettably, we are out of the championship, we must take the positives and come back home to rebuild.
“I personally feel bad just like any other Nigerian but the truth remains this side were not disgraced especially in the clash against USA.”
