Hosts Morocco have qualified for a first ever WAFCON final after edging champions Super Falcons of Nigeria on penalties in Monday’s semi-final, Completesports.com reports.
Despite playing with nine players from the second half and both halves of extra-time following the sending off of Rasheedat Ajibade Halimotu Ayinde, the Moroccans could not breakdown a resilient Falcons.
And after regulation time ended 1-1 Morocco eventually triumphed 5-4 on penalties with Ifeoma Onumonu missing her spot kick.
The Falcons will now face Zambia in the third-placed match on Friday while Morocco will battle South Africa in the final on Saturday.
From the blast of the whistle Morocco went in search of an early goal but the Falcons thwarted their efforts.
And after surviving the first 15 minutes the Falcons took charge of the game and started chances of their own.
Also Read: WAFCON 2022: Nnadozie Wins Woman Of The Match Award In Super Falcons’ Defeat To Morocco
The Falcons had their first attempt on goal in the 25th minute but Uchenna Kanu’s header from a cross from Rasheedat Ajibade was well claimed by the Moroccan keeper.
In the 32nd minute the Falcons were awarded a free-kick in a good area but Ngozi Okobi’s attempt went way over the bar.
The Falcons should have punished the Morocco on 35 minutes after a poor pass in the hosts defence but Christy Ucheibe’s attempt from aside with the keeper off her lines went wide.
Just three minutes into the second half the Falcons were reduced to 10 players following Ayinde’s sending off after VAR review.
But it was the Falcons who took the lead on 62 minutes off an own goal by Yasmin Mrabet.
But in the 66th minute Sanaa Mssoudy equalized for Morocco as she pounced on a rebound after Chiamaka Nnadozie failed to hold on to a low cross from the right.
With both teams failing to find the winner the game went into extra-time and was eventually decided on penalties.
By James Agberebi
50 Comments
Our girls tried. Two of our girls were given red cards so pushing the game to extra time then penalty is not a bad one. They tried.
One big thing everyone here seems to have missed or deemed unimportant is the laser light on aimed at Nigerian players’ eyes. You caan’t tell me that it’s not a big factor or distraction in an already pressure packed situation for a PK taker or goalie? And it was used most of the part of the game l watched. Even on the ref. Nigerian should petition for disqualification or replay without fans. If Nigeria was the host, l bet you the other team will do the same in a flash.
Fantastic point. It’s up to NFF to earn their salary now.
Thank you very much my brother! I thought I was the only one that caught that during the penalty shootout
This Nigeria coach will do well in the world cup by God’s grace.
Nigerian girls will prove their worth at the World Stage. The enemies have done their worst.
Okobi was bossing it! Dropping balls on a plate like Andreas Pirlo too. Plumber was very massive! Saved a goal as well. The girls played their hearts out. That’s how it’s done right! I’m VERY, VERY PROUD of all of you!!!
Oh, Payne was doing awesome, big girl things there as well. Kudos!
We can’t win all the time let us celebrate the girls,for poor officiating there’s no way this Moroccan team will beat our falcons.
At the world cup things would be different,I saw a very good Nigerian team the coach was fantastic my only problem with him is chosen Onumonu to lead the line when we have a striker like Gift Monday strange decision.
Exactly my thought. How can That Gift Monday be benched for Onumuno. There is a big gulf in class.
The girls play like cameroonian team. Two red cards that is unlike Nigerian team. Wtf
LMAO this happens when your opponent are better than you on ball works. We have better players but the coach doesn’t bring out their ball intelligence. Give us that Moroccan coach who’s and ex coach of Lyon you’ll see if our falcons will not go beyond African football. The girls need ball drilling to compliment their robust play. If we achieve this two we can match any team in the world.
Gift Monday should not be benched for any reason henceforth, the coach has to make room for her before taking any other player into consideration, and stop playing Payne as RB it’s just too disgusting. The players were just too unintelligent because after conceding careless red card and scoring a goal then they just switched off and the coaches didn’t even alert them because I saw it clearly. Let’s be honest Morocco Coach is miles ahead of our coach and they’ll do well at the World Cup unlike our players that are not good on the ball and this is exactly what makes us suffer against big teams.
For once the coach should work on the players ball works and distribution to see the team flourish else we’ll keep panicking when we play big teams. Rasheedat has joined the list of Big mouth talkers like Assisat and Osimhen that will be warning fans not to criticise them instead of doing the talk on pitch. After reading her comment this morning I felt disappointed in her coz she was my favourite so far and now that she has made that needless tackle her senses will tell her why it’s safer to stay mute and off media when things are going well for you and this warning goes to all Nigeria players of various national team. Let us learn to do the ultimate like Mane and Salah before we start carrying shoulders like we are messiah. If we check out today you’ll realise we are on the decline of late. Let us be humble and retrace our steps to greatness.
Lol a team that cannot beat another team even with 3 women down and you called that a good team ? Dvthe coach is good? A coach that can’t make a meaningful input while u are playing 3 women advantage ,
Do u even realize what would have happened to the coach if had lost the match with 3 women down ? For almost 1 hour common
Sorry I mean 2 women down
Congratulations my girls….my Darling Ngozi, Wonderful Plumptre, resilient Ucheibe, Skillful Ajibade, Ever present Payne, Queen Nnadozie una do wello.
There was no way you could have won when there is a great gang up against Pinick.
Onumonu has no business in that team, I said it before. Her Americaness paved way for her. She is supposed to be a substitute at best. I have been saying it and will say it again. The Moroccans are not a very good team
Are you sure Moroccans are not good and they forced our wonderful girls to be committing rash challenge? That was a trap to instigate red card and they succeeded. Only a good team can succeed on luring you to get penalised, and what about their No11 who’s just too intelligent. They’re a good side we were lucky not to even suffer handball calls if we must be honest.
If it wasn’t for Onomunu, the game would have been won by Falcons in first half.
Onumonu should not be a point 9 she should be played with another 9 like Monday or Kanu else she’ll be isolated and be ineffective by the time she gets the chances to react, and her penalty antics was needless show. Monday is a young player but more matured than her in a lot of ways. But she’s not a bad player if paired with another striker.
Nigeria team is the best but ref killed the game sham on caf the match should be replay without fans.
Morocco weren’t that good before the red cards, hardly troubled our defence and had just one shot which wasn’t even on target the whole first half.
Their player committed the same offence and only got a yellow card, it wasn’t even checked by VAR.
A team trying to get another team to commit isn’t a good team, they are just tricky and our player fell for their tricks.
All their shot on target and reasonable attacks came after the red card.
They wouldn’t have won even with 10 Vs 11.
How can you call a team who couldn’t win a 9 man team for over 50 minutes good? Some people and analysis sef.
Imagine Morocco with 9 men. Them for chop am wotowoto.
Oh please, a good team would have taken the falcons to the cleaner after 2 red cards! Those red cards were unfortunate. They were never deliberate. I agree that their coach was better (we obviously) have a clueless coach. But were their players better? The answer is a big no.
I wonder how else the players should have played even after 2 red cards. We lost because we have a very poor coach not because Morocco was better. This is even with all the gang un against Nigeria
They are ok!,playing 11 against 9 players for 50 mins without scoring is a sign of a weak team. South Africa will win it
Going to the world cup not as African champion is a blessing in disguise. The hype will not be there and we will not be taken seriously.Please lets give it to the girls, playing 9 against 11 was a handful.They fought like true champions during the extra time.Sincerely I did not expect them to survive but they did.The fighting spirit thrills me…if the god of soccer had smiled on us the cracker from Gift Monday would have been a goal to remember for a life time.The coach will look for 4 new faces, a leftback, a right back and two extra midfielders. Onome may not be starting and we sure need a lanky younger and very athletic central defender.I would love to see Asleigh played as left half and Ohale deployed to the right if he can not get one.
Kudos Super Falcons!!
Our coach created the problem. How do you keep that number 9 there despite her tiredness. Onumonu didn’t add any value during the extra time yet you kept her there.
Another things was this referee kept disturbing our girls during the penalty it’s like a distraction. African football is going back to the days of ISSA Hayatou.
The ladies showed tremendous fighting spirit. They qualified for the next Women’s World Cup, so all is not lost. I suggest that among other things, the agenda on the next NFF chairman and board should be working together with willing West African FAs to move CAF head-quaters out of North Africa and annul this current ridiculous format of African male youth qualifiers that lump strong West African teams into one zone. This is not sour grapes but with all due respect, Mr. Pinnick has been self-serving. He, alongside some of the other Sub-Sahara African chairs have allowed themselves to be pocketed by a conniving South African.
Congratulations girls for your resilience, learn from your mistakes today and don’t repeat these bad tackled again. Carefull tackles are part of the rules of the game.It toktaken out of two key players before Moroccans could defeat us yet these girls fought. Thank you for going down galla tly.
Brilliant submission above @Chima… I think there’s a worrying trend in our football generally, which is that our teams these days can’t seem to string 4 to 5 passes together successfully… We should learn to pass and let the ball do all the running while we get into passing positions
I disagree on this one. This falcons can string more than 4 or 5 passes together. The only complain I have about their play is their willingness to take on more than 3 players at a time. They like to dribble too much. Other than that and with the exception of all the old and unfit players in the team, the super falcons are good.
My analysis of the match vs Morrocco
1. Against All Odds the SF showed character befitting champions,even though they made life difficult for themselves by the reckless nature of the red cards,they still held on and made it all the way to penalties which goes to show the attitude of the team in general.
2. If only Randy waldrum had reacted earlier by subbing off Ifeoma onumonu with either gift or peace, the team would’ve had more of an attacking threat as well as more legs and energy rather the coach was passive in his decision making and must do better next time out.
3. Tactically this team has issues in setup:I’ve been watching the SF games and I noticed that certain players are more comfortable in certain positions but the tactical setup is one of the reasons why one would watch the SF and see uncomfortable body language in certain areas of the pitch,the 4-3-3 unbalances the team where a CB is playing LB,and a left winger is playing RB,going forward I would like to see the team deploy a back 3(preferably a 3-5-2) with ohale,ebi and Ash and alozie/n.payne on right wingback while Toni on left wingback, onumonu looks like striker who prefers to be supported up front probably U Kanu while ajibade will play behind both of them this might give the team the balance they lack.
4. African officiating is behind their counterparts: there’s a difference between experience and training and just training, African referees have a lot to learn,they cannot rely on training alone they must be exposed to competitions and tournaments where VAR is used in order to avoid this disgrace,debacle we all are witnessing and it’s high time refs are held accountable for their actions and decisions.thank you
I’m not playing ONUMONU’S ADVOCATE here. Just trying hard to be fair to her.
I agree she performed poorly today, but looking at the big picture, this is my submission.
Onumonu is facing the same problem Onuachu has with the SE.
With a good supply of QUALITY crosses into the box, she’s useful.
Isolated upfront and starved of service, she struggles.
The way the SF play, a pacy striker will do better leading the line. Monday or Ordega look like the obvious choices now, in hindsight. But Onumonu did not select herself to start. The responsibility for that belongs to the coach.
If Onumonu is to remain relevant in the team, the coach needs to use her properly. If you can’t give her the service and support she needs to play her game, THEN PLAY SOMEONE ELSE. It’s not rocket science.
The only quality service she got in the whole game, she produced a header that led to our goal. With more quality service, she would have done what she does best.
The coach needs to make better selection decisions. That’s the crux of the matter.
You correctly pointed out the problem and why we lost. The problem is the coach . it’s very simple.
Nigeria teams don’t play that kind of pull of from the flanks into the 18 yard box. we are not known to play like that. This is why Onunomu nd Onuachu can’t make it in the National team. Their physique and still of play don’t suit the super falcons and super eagles.
A good coach would have known this and put Onumonu on the bench for Ordega or Monday. Or rather push her to the flanks, or play her behind a fitter and faster Kanu.
This is why I can’t say Waldrum should continue with the falcons. All coaches who have coached falcons to date, both local and foreign have not displayed the tactical deficiencies that Waldrum has displayed. It is just sad and annoying.
Agreed. The coach should go. He has no business coaching the Falcons.
I agree with you also
Waldrum should learn from Ugbade,how he utilised the power of conversion of dead ball to advantage, He and Pseiro should learn.
The coach did not do substitution on time, I think he should have brought in three players in shortly after the second red card, this would have strengthened the team but in all and all the performance was impressive. KUDOS TO OUR SUPER FALCOM ALL OF YOU WERE GOOD YESTERNIGHT
Proud! Proud! for the Superb Falcons, 11 against 9 and you still forced the game to penalties a gainst the host team with all their fans . The only thing right now is that i lost the bet to my wife who is a Moroccan.
Hahaha, that means you’ll be doing the cooking and cleaning for the rest of the month 🙂
never!!
With the tremendous off-pitch maneuvering that will happen during the SA vs Morocco final, I’m afraid that VAR will collapse. VAR will explode into tiny pieces.
This is the referee’s opportunity to strike gold, as the match is obviously for sale to the highest bidder.
And the winner of this facade will call themselves African champions. Mtcheeeeew!
This is why African football does not command it’s rightful respect in world football.
OJORO IS TOO MUCH!
, as hilarious as it sounds it’s kinda true African football has refused to grow due to myopic and archaic thinking from its top brass,good point @pompei.maybe after the crash VAR will rest.
The president of caf should be removed, yesterday’s games was a disgrace to African football poor officiating in the first game and second game,I was disappointed both Zambia and Nigeria were robbed it is such a shame,
Well said. Falcons players are more athletic, but lack ball control and ball intelligence. Their present coach has no pedigree being a national coach. He knows nothing about fundamental football. That is what is killing the Falcons. He has refused to drill the girls. Just because he is white, doesn’t make him a qualified coach. Don’t expect the Falcons to go past the group stage at the world cup, with their quality of football displayed in this Competition. They are poorly coached!
Thumbs up to the SF. There is no better way to prove you are worthy champions than playing two men less yet coming out unscathed. It was better we bowed out like this than to be disgraced in the final by South Africa. The intelligence that Morocco did not have in the final 3rd, SA has it in abundance and they would have torn our defence into pieces with their pace, trickery and well mapped out tactical plan had we met in the final.
We can whine all we can and concoct all sorts of conspiracy theories like we did when Tunisia booted us out of the AFCON, but till the rule changes, A STAMP OF ANY SORT ON THE LEG OF AN OPPONENT IS A STRAIGHT RED CARD. That rule has been in existence as far back as when cards and sending offs were introduced into football. The coming of VAR has even made it worse, it can never go unnoticed any longer. The red cards to Ayinde and Ajibade are as RED as colour RED can be. Those where the 1 millionth and 1 million and oneth RED CARDS I have seen in football for a stamp on opponents feet (be it intentional or not). The earlier we started educating our footballers about it the better for us. The girls were obviously well educated about putting your hands behind you in the your penalty box, but apparently were not educated them on lunging into lost cause tackles.
When we went about cooking up conspiracy theories about Iwobi’s red card vs Tunisia, I warned that if we do not humble ourselves and own up to the mistake, same tragedy will befall us in the future. I am warning again now that if we dont start educating our players about it, it will repeat itself and we will whine as usual. Watch out for more of it at both the men and women’s world cups coming up. That is when the “FIFA HATES AFRICA” song will be replayed into our hears when another comrade goes down with a red card for a studded stamp on an opponent.
The less said of our coach the better. This is one of the most uninventive-in-the-final-third SF teams I’ve ever watched after Sam Okopodu’s Super Falcons.
Hard luck to Nigeria, La Decima will come another time when we have a better coach. I would have preferred him disappointing me by lifting this WAFCON. My best bet for him has always been a 3rd place finish even long before we qualified for the WAFCON.
I do read between the lines that we should stop demonising individual players like Onumonu. Playing 9 against 11 and stopping the opponent from scoring is a rare feat, indeed.
Bros, what the same tackle on the Nigerian player? Why didn’t VAR call the ref to have a proper check? Abeg leave matter. The girls played their heart out. No need for all this your postulations.
What same tackle…? Did any of your own girls get stamped on like a customs or immigrations stamp…? LMAOOoo
Cry babies.
You too leave matter. I didnt tie a rope around your neck to read my “postulations”
The coach is definitely our problem. When Ayinde got the red card, he should have brought in another defensive midfielder to replace her to maintain the shape of the team but he did not and that led to the equaliser. I don’t think he should take the Super Falcons to the World Cup. Onumonu is like Rashidi Yekini, you have to play to her strength by pitting in crosses for her to attack but the coach did not setup the team to play like that. The coach is not good enough in my opinion.
The Morrocans were just too much. They were too fast and skillful, the red cards were a good call. The referee denied the Morrocans two clear penalties, massive team display, their number 23 had a lot of fun. They can match any European team
In all honesty….There was a time Ucheibe handled the ball in the 18 and immediately put her hands on her head ……That was supposed to be a penalty against us. Waldrum really needs to get his shit together. Those girls are heroines but the damn fool doesn’t know the capabilities of his players.
There was no genuine penalty call against Nigeria,those were ball to hand not hand to ball,that was why VAR were not even used to check them. Those Red cards were real men,but a Nigerian was also stamped upon and that was not checked. Ebi should be out of this team and the other old player brought in during extra time.They have no speed again and Ebi couldn’t tackle the lady that crossed from the wing, she was simply outran .This Super Falcons coach is so clueless,the worst ever. They are under 20 falconets that can fit into this team at least 4 of them.There is infact one lady I saw that plays like Jay Jay okocha.A lazy coach simply relies on old legs and that was why South Africa trashed us in Aisha buhari cup and the WAFCON opener.If 4 home based players were added to this team with others presently good players,Super Falcons will not even concede a single goal.The old legs are tired and must not go to the world cup.How can we be having a almost 40 year old player with players like Gift Monday who is the best player of Nigerian origin at this moment. That cracker she missed would have been the best goal of the tornament.This present Super Eagles can’t even play good shots at goal,not one in all the games played.Playing abroad doesn’t make you the best player around.I say it again, retire the Ebi’s ,Chikwelu’s and Oparanozes and bring in the Gift Mondays(at least 4 or 5 from our league) and you will see wonders. If Oparanozie was around Gift Monday would never have been used.I saw how so many of the players are afraid to be tackled,the home girls will not fear as such. The way to go is always to mix up local based with foreign based,ask Keshi,ask Bonfere Jo/westerhof
Thanks @Ike, one of the Moroccan players committed the same foul by hitting the ankle of a Nigerian player but was just shown a yellow card without VAR check. If they had been reduced to 10 women, maybe the game would have balanced somewhat. And although Onumonu’s header was instrumental to our goal, she was largely anonymous in the game, she hardly returned to assist contest and win balls and in fact it appeared we were 3 women down…….