Eniola Olatunji

Ageless Brazillian Captain, Marta on Thursday at the Matmut Atlantique in Bordeux France aided the painful defeat of The Falcons in the first Match of the Paris Olympics with a slim 1-0 victory.

Brazil scored a goal in the 36th minute which was dismissed by the VAR but Marta got the ball and within 30 seconds found Gabi Nanes who scored 37th minute for the only goal of the match and three full points to Brazil. 

Nigeria lost four chances at scoring; two in each half due to poor finishing in front of goal but Nigeria’s Coach from America, Randy Waldrum again left African Footballer of the Year, Asisat Oshoala on the bench as he did during the African qualifying stages.
 
Nigeria struggled in the last moments of the game to get an equalizer but  the Brazilians who were very physical playing much rough games without the whistle of Ref Kim Yujeong from Korea had 10-4 foul calls with no yellow card but one to Nigeria,

The Samba girls blocked 5-2 shots at goal in the night that Nigerian goalkeeper made 5-4 saves when the Nigerian Defence got 11-6 goal kicks; though the corner kicks were even 5-5 Brazil expectedly had better ball possession of 53-47%. 

The last time Nigeria and Brazil women met was at the 2008 Summer Olympics when Brazil spanked Nigeria 3-1.

Spain earlier defeated Japan 2-1 in group C at the Stade de La Beaujore when the Spanish came from behind to snatch victory. 

Aoba Fujino had opened scoring in the 13th minute before Aitana Bonmati got the equalizer in the 22nd minute and left winger Marions Caldentey secured the winner in the 74th minute.

Spain dominated the match with 9-3 shots at goal; 69-31% ball possession; Spain got 4-1 corner kicks but got 16-3 foul calls and 2-0 yellow cards. The goalkeeper of Japan was better in making 7-2 saves; there 12-2 Goal kicks in favor of Japan.

Spain tops the Group C table with 3 points as Brazil both having +1 Goal difference while Japan lies at the 3rd place and Nigeria is 4th both also having -1 goals difference each. 

Brazil will play Japan at 4pm Nigerian time on Sunday and Spain will play Nigeria at 6pm in the second round matches of the group. The final group matches will be played next Wednesday when Japan will play Nigeria and Brazil will tackle Spain.

Also earlier today, Canada defeated New Zealand 2-1 in Group A and we are waiting for the France versus Columbia which is ongoing.
Germany walloped Australia 3-0 in Group B and the match between USA and Zambia is also ongoing. Germany goals were scored by Hegering 24th minute; Schuller 64th minute and Brand 68th minute.

As at the time of filing this report, the Yankee Girls of USA was leading Zambia by 3-0 in group B with about 40 minutes of play and 21 year old Pauline Zulu got into record books as the first player to bag a Red Card in the 38th minute meaning that Zambia will play 10 women against 11 for the rest of the game.