France vs Nigeria tie: Super Falcons sad over loss

Harry Awurumibe, Live in France 

It was a sorry sight in the Super Falcons dressing room at Roazhon Park in Rennes yesterday after a controversial penalty goal gifted France an underserved 1-0 win over Nigeria in the Group A last match.

The Super Falcons were almost successful in their game plan to pick a point from the sold out match against Les Blues as France team is called.

But a 73rd minute decision of the match officials including the Video Assistant Referees (VAR) on the night turned what should have been a good reference point for a quality women’s football game to a sham after France scored from a controversial penalty goal by Wendie Renard.

The result brought tears to the eyes of some players, officials and Nigerian traveling contingent at Roazhon Park in Rennes last night.

Head Coach Thomas Dennerby, his assistants Jorgen Peterson, Justin Madugu, Auwal Makwalla and Maureen Mmadu wept openly of what they saw as an unfair result of the match.

“I am speechless if you ask me. I will tell that I am at a loss how the match officials arrived to some of the decisions they took in the course of the match today (yesterday)”, Dennerby lamented.

For Madugu, the officiating was not fair on Nigeria as the final result would have been favourable to Nigeria if the game was not marred by what looked bad calls by the match officials.

Meanwhile the players were the most hit as many of them were in tears inside the locker room with team captain, Desire Oparanozie feeling disgusted over the 1-0 loss through a controversial circumstances.

According to her, ”we are almost getting one point in this match but the decisions of the referee have denied us our hard fought result”.