By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
A first half goal scored by Grace Katongo in the 29 minute was all that Zambia needed to defeat the dethroned champions, Nigeria in the 3rd-placed match of the 12th CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) at Complexe Mohamed V in Casablanca Friday night.
The loss to Copper Queens of Zambia was Nigeria’s Super Falcons second time in the 24-year history of WAFCON to finish the tournament without any medal hanging on their necks.
The first time Nigeria returned home empty handed from the biannual women’s football fiesta was in Equitorial Guinea in 2012 when the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon defeated Super Falcons 1-0 in the 3rd place match courtesy of Eugenie Enganamouit’s 31 minute goal.
Ten years later, Katongo scored Zambia’s winning goal to deny the Nigerians medal of any colour as they will now return to Abuja without any fanfare just as most of their fans will not be at the airport to welcome them back to the country.
The loss to Zambia on Friday in Casablanca was Nigeria’s third in Morocco, the only time the Super Falcons have lost two matches in WAFCON was in 2012 when Nigeria lost to South Africa 1-0 in the semi final and Cameroon 1-0 in the 3rd place match respectively.
The bad results recorded by Nigeria in the matches against South Africa in group stage, semi final loss to Morocco and Zambia’s victory over the 9-time African Champions showed that the team lacked technical and tactical depth to overcome any strong oppositions.
Recall that Prompt News had predicted that the Super Falcons will not fly so high in Morocco because the Nigerian team is just living in the past glory.
It also queried the ability of Randy Waldrum who is holding dual jobs as Head Coach of Pittsburgh Panthers women’s soccer team which represents the University of Pittsburgh, United States, in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) of NCAA Division I women’s college soccer, to handle the Super Falcons with many stars in a competition as big as WAFCON.
