Former Nigerian midfielder, Henry Nwosu has revealed that the Super Falcons should keep their head high despite losing to Morocco in the ongoing 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
Recall that Nigeria lost 5-4 on penalties after dragging the game into extra-time despite losing two key players in the second half to red card offenses.
In a chat with Completesports.com, Nwosu stated that the team must be commended for displaying great resilience and determination against the host nation.
“I don’t consider this as a defeat but a victory for the gallant Super Falcons despite going two players down and holding their own till the penalty shootouts.
Read Also: WAFCON 2022: Oparanozie Hails Super Falcons’ Fighting Spirit Vs Morocco
“Credit should be accorded to the women because it was a spirited performance from them. They showed great character and determination as far as I am concern.
The loss makes it the third time Nigeria will not feature in a WAFCON final since its inception. The other two occasions ended in third and fourth place finishes in 2008 and 2012 respectively, and Equatorial Guinea the eventual winners.
Nigeria will face Zambia in a third place match on Friday while both South Africa and Morocco will face off in the final on Saturday for a chance to win a maiden WAFCON title.
13 Comments
Please the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT should send some DELIGATION to CONSOLE my PLUMPTRE…
Just WONDERING how she is HOLDING UP
After giving HER all..
You know BRITISH GIRS are very very EMOTIONAL when it comes to issues of DISAPPOINTMENT..
SMH…
@Monkey post ,that’s very insensitive to other gallant Nigeria Heroines who battle with pride along her.
LMFAO!
Sorry, ok o…
WELDONE GIRLS…
But you know, like they say FAMILY FIRST…
LMFAO!!!
The tackles for the red cards were needless from Okobi and then Ajibade: what the hell were they thinking?
11v11, we would never have lost to that Morocco side. Even on 10v11 Nigeria scored 1 goal.
We passive observers and fans knew the Super Falcons were up against 11 Moroccan players , 3 match officials, 1 VAR and the vociferous home crowd, yet we made it easier for them with meaningless tackles that turned the tide of the game against us.
Before those useless tackles, Nigeria had wrestled the initiative from the Moroccans only to give it away with two incidents of “rush of blood to the head”.
Yesterday’s match must rank as the worst and most painful Super Falcons experience I ever went through and I pray never in life to witness such a “self-destruct display” ever again.
Everyone is talking about how “brave and gallant” the Super Falcons were after being depleted by 2 players. That for me owes much to the fact that the Moroccans were simply not good enough to take advantage of such a situation. As the game wore on, it became clear to me that only a miracle would see Morocco score an additional goal. They were lame, tame and timid in the final third despite getting into some excellent positions.
And, for a team that got to the semi final largely by scoring goals through fee kicks and penalties, their chances of winning on penalties was high, so high one of their penalty takers simply chipped Nnadozie.
It must rank as undoubtedly the weirdest Super Falcons encounter I ever witnessed. It was very painful and I don’t ever want to go through such an experience again.
As for Onumonu, she is one of the most fastidious, committed, patriotic and hard working center forward I have seen in the Super Falcons for such a long time.
Whatever her faults might be, her diligence and dedication make up for these. It is clear: with the right formation and the right team members by her side, Onumonu will shine despite her weaknesses.
Onumonu is not my cup of tea by a country mile but I find it uncomfortable to criticize sharply a player like Onumonu who plays with the highest level of commitment (and who delivers when utilized properly).
Enough said of this truly horrible and horrendous match!
Thanks @deo. Those tackles resulting in those red cards were needless and unintelligent. That was our undoing but then take nothing away from the girls who played out the game holding Morocco from increasing the tally for more than 50 minutes with 2 players down. I also noticed that our goalkeeper at a point lost composure and was making poor judgements. I was also wondering what stopped our goalkeeper from fully stopping that cross that led to the equalizer!
You are right Chudynak. Praise must go to the remaining 9 Super Falcons players who repelled Moroccan onslaught for about 50 minutes. But they were slightly careless in conceding the equaliser with Nnadozie very culpable.
It was a weird match for Nigeria. The first infraction for Ayinde’s red card was not even spotted by the referee while the she initially issued a yellow card for Ajibade’s foul.
VAR exposed and ventilated the gravity of those needles tackles. It is just out of character for Ajibade and Ayinde. They have both conducted themselves with a level head in Super Falcons colours. I will never know what came upon them!
Really weird : arguably our two most creative players just press the self-destruct button. Even as a Nigerian, those tackles are indefensible and definitely not in keeping with a team hoping to lift the trophy.
And, prior to those moments of madness, the Super Falcons were firmly on the ascendancy.
Look, I really don’t want to talk about this match anymore.
I am so sorry.
As needless as those tackles are and rightly red card offenses. Morocco too should’ve gotten a red card when their player stepped on Ohale. Where is the consistency with VAR??? It was apparent that they want us out by all means.
It was basically VAR vs Nigeria in my opinion. Morocco should’ve been reduced to 10 at that point if VAR is actually consistent. They packed Arabas in the VAR room against the SuperFalcons playing Morocco. CAF wanted another champion and there they have it.
SuperFalcons will wrestle back their title next time. La Decimal is just a matter of time. Now let’s go to the WorldCup and make Africa proud in Australia and New Zealand.
The decisions of the referee were very correct but inconsistent. Morocco had the same tackle on Ohale but the girl got only a yellow and no VAR check.
We have ourselves to blame for not taking the array of chances that came out way in the first half. Morocco played absolutely nothing until the 2 red cards.
We must give it to the other 9 players that saw the game off. It shows that Morocco are in no way better than us. They were just very lucky and some decisions favoured them as the host.
Imagine the roles reversed. It would have been a whitewash for Morocco.
The girls lost the game but they won our hearts. Even the haters from the other side of West Africa couldn’t come here to say their usual thrash whenever our team loses.
Let Onumonu go and work seriously at her game… God has given her the physique, let her go and toughen-up in the gym like I always advise Joe Aribo… With a height like hers she can even be better than Asisat Oshoala who has declined seriously. Onumonu needs to work on speed, technique and ballplay… If you wanna play football regardless your gender, put in work to prepare yourself and stay ready. If Brazilians and European ladies like Norway, Germany and Sweden can be so good… I wonder why it shd be different with our girls… Some are low too old and should give way to younger players. It’s clearly strange and unprogressive that we shd still have 37yrs,39yrs old females still playing for Falcons… they can still be very good but that’s not a pointer to development and should be discouraged… Zambia, South Africa, Cameroon, Ghana, Algeria and Morocco have closed the gap between them and our girls by recruiting young and agile girls… Morrocco gave a good account of themselves yesterday… If we were really some class above them… We shd have killed that game in the first 45minutes… The red cards were deserved! We simply lost to a team that kept their discipline and played clean…
I respect our super falcons, in fact they are definitely the best in Africa and they will do very well at the world cup. Peradventure if Morocco wins this tournament, they will never smell it again in a very long time unless they host it again soon and receive the favour of home and referee.
Even with the falcons two women down, they nearly won it. I bow for you super falcons, may God continue to give you strength and wisdom. Since that mediocre performance against SA, you have turned to something else and I am very sure that SA would be happy to avoid you.
YOU ARE DEFINATELY THE BEST.
Brave and courageous. Speechless at the moment . This gallant ladies played out their hearts for our nation. Girls, please you all should hold your head high. Interesting match over all.
Please gift Zambia the bronze medal and return home before you bag serious injuries in the name of worthless bronze medal match!
Super Falcons don`t have a good coach, in my view the coach should be replaced.