By Amosu Adeboye, LAGOS
Nigeria’s Super Falcons have crashed out of the Cyprus Women’s Cup following a 1-0 defeat to Red Flames of Belgium in their final Group C game at the GSZ Stadium, Lanarca, on Monday.
Elena Dohnt scored the winning goal for the Belgians in the seventh minute of the highly entertaining encounter.
The Red Blames were fully in control of the game in the first half but failed to add to their one goal advantage before the half-time break.
Super Falcons head coach Thomas Dennerby made a number changes to his squad after the break with the likes Anam Imo who bagged the winner in the 4-3 win against Slovakia last Friday, Chinaza Uchendu and Ngozi coming on but with little effect.
The reigning African champions top star Asisat Oshoala make occasional forays into the opposition half was curtailed by the Europeans who put up a disciplined performance at the back.
Dennerby’s ladies finished the competition with three points from three group games.
The West Africans opened the competition with a 4-1 loss to Austria, but recovered to beat Slovakia 4-3 in their second game.
Austria who beat Slovakia 1-0 in the group’s other game also on Monday top the group with seven points from three games, while Belgium finished second also with seven points but with an inferior goal difference.
Nigeria finished in third position with three points, while Slovakia who lost all their group games failed to record a point.
The other African country who participated in the competition, the Banyana Banyana of South Africa also crashed out on Monday after going down to a 2-1 defeat against Czech Republic.
