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Copper Queens of Zambia head coach Nora Häuptle has said her team missed a big opportunity to secure three points against Nigeria’s Super Falcons in Saturday’s WAFCON 2026 Group C encounter.
A first half goal by Asisat Oshoala saw the Super Falcons beat Zambia 1-0 to record their first win of the tournament.
The Super Falcons had to play most parts of the match with 10 players after Tosin Demehin was shown a straight red card for a foul on Barbra Banda.
Despite going a player down the African champions put in a resolute display to see of the Zambians.
Speaking during her post-match press conference Häuptle highlighted some of the mistakes her team made which contributed to their defeat.
“I think we had a lot of control and created a lot of breaks which were stopped by fouls and the red card was correct and Nigeria had a breakthrough from which they scored which was the keeper’s error due to her position,” she said.
Also Read: WAFCON 2026: She Still Got It — CAF Hails Oshoala’s Display In Super Falcons Win Against Zambia
“After the halftime we decided to change the system so we went with 4-4-2, the objective was to dominate with the ball, use our numerical advantage but the issue we had was that we started launching the ball from the defence to the attack which did not help to dominate the game and we did not take control of possession.
“We brought in more skillful players which helped us become better but we didn’t create lots of dangerous chances but we also didn’t allow Nigeria anything so they only scored from one of the two breaks they had. It was in our hands but we did not take our chance to beat Nigeria now we need to focus for the next game and go all out against Malawi.”
Zambia now have it all to do as they will face group leaders Malawi on Wednesday, August 5, and must win and hope the Super Falcons slip up against Egypt.
By James Agberebi
