By

Eniola Olatunji 

The Super Falcons of Nigeria again lost by a slim margin 1-2 to Les Blueus of France in an International friendly match Saturday at the Stade Raymond Kopa (Angers) under the watchful eyes of 44 year old Ref Dr. Riem Hussein who has been officiating International matches since 2009.

Despite the loss in a freezing foggy weather atmosphere, Nigeria’s Ifeoma Onumonu made recorded history by being the first player to ever score against France, a feat done when Gift Monday gave a long pass to her and in a fast break she scored 45+3rd minute.

France was denied a goal in the 9th minute by VAR but Katoto found Le Summer of Olympic Lyonnais who neatly beat Nnadozie in the 29th minute.

Le Summer found her team mate at Lyon, Amel Majri who was coming back to the National team after a while to score in the 37th minute when the Nigerian defenders failed to clear their lines perfectly playing to her legs.

The Nigerian players were not as quick as their French counterparts and they had Cecilia Nnadozie to thank as the lady came out quickly to clear stray balls many time getting injured twice in the process.

Defender Osinachi Ohale became the ‘bad girl’ of the match when Ref Dr. Hussein gave her two yellow cards in succession in the 90+7th minute of play translating to the only red card of the match and she was unwilling to leave the pitch but her mates guided her off the pitch to avoid unpleasant confrontation with the Ref..

Apart from obvious dominance by the French [layers, stats also proved the Les Blueus had the match under control but not enough goals to show for it. France had 19-7 shots at goal with 10-5 on target; France had 70-30% possession stringing 592-253 passes earning 85-67% pass accuracy.

Nigeria bagged all the 4 yellow cards with one red in 7-8 foul calls and conceded 5-10 corner kicks

France and Nigeria have met thrice before tonight with France winning the three matches and scoring all the 10 goals scored without Nigeria getting even a goal. Twice at the world cup and once in a friendly 

On 26th June 2011 Nigeria lost by a lone goal in a world cup match; on 6th April 2018 Nigeria was canned 8-0 by France in a friendly encounter and again at a Group A of a world cup  encounter of the match played on 17th June 2019 Nigeria lost by a lone goal.

Ranked 10 in the world, France was at the Olympics like Nigeria. She bowed to Canada 1-2; beat New Zealand 2-1 and bowed again to Brazil by a lone goal. She had two friendly matches beating Jamaica 3-0 and surprisingly lost to Switzerland 1-2.

France on 14th May 1998 had flogged Algeria 14-0 at the Cesson-Sevigne, France. She was at the world cup 5 times and had a best achievement of placing 4th in 2011. She was at the Olympics thrice and also had a best achievement of placing 4th in 2012. She made 8 appearances at the European Championship and got a podium finish with the Silver medal in 2022.

Nigeria ranked 36 in the world, at the Olympics lost to Brazil by a lone goal; lost to Spain also by a lone goal and lost to Japan 1-3. Nigeria played two friendly matches with Algeria on her soil beating the North Africans 2-0 at Remo Shagamu Stadium on 25th October and winning gleefully 4-1 in Lagos.

Nigeria made 9 appearances at the world cup but her best was a quarterfinal in 1999.She went to the Olympics 4 times and her best was also a quarterfinal placing. Nigeria is dominant at the Women AFCON in which she appeared 14 times and won 9 times the last which happened in 2018.

European nations have been bashing the Super Falcons left and right. Norway battered Nigeria 8-0 on 6th June 1995; Germany did same by same goals margin on 25th November 2010 and the France by same margin on 6th April 2018 at Le Mans in France. 

Nigeria played France with at least three key players including multiple African player of the Year, Azezat Oshoala whose papers and work permit got expired; utility player and captain Rasheedat Ajibade who is out to injury. Abiodun is also out injured.

Nigeria is preparing for the Women African Cup of Nations WAFCON for which she wants a 10th title while France is preparing for the European Women’s Nations League.