France 2019: Argentina draws Scotland to give Nigeria Round of 16 hope

Harry Awurumibe, Live in France

The camp of  Nigeria’s Super Falcons was thrown into a wide jubilation on Wednesday night shortly after Argentina miraculously came from three goals down to draw 3-3 with Scotland in the last Group D match at Parc des Prince, Paris as players and officials celebrated the final result which may help their course at the end of the first round matches on Thursday.

Even before the final whistle there was a loud shouts of joy at the 7-deck Best Western Plus Hotel Isidore in Rennes as Super Falcons players and officials who were glued to their television sets to watch the match with great attention and interest erupted into jubilation.

They believed that their chances of making it to the Round of 16 have been brightened by the results of Group D which showed that England picked maximum 9pts and Japan 4pts leaving Argentina and Scotland with 2pts and 1pt respectively.

Scotland had gone ahead early in the game with Kelly Little’s goal in the 19th minute and it was followed by two more goals in the 49th and 69th minutes by Jane Beattie and Erin Cuthbert to give false impression of booking a Round of 16 ticket but that was not to be on the night.

Argentina’s coach, Jose Carlos Borrello pulled off a fast one on his counterpart from Scotland, J. Kerr by making two impact changes as the introduction of A. Ippolito and D. Menendez  late on combined to give Argentina their first goal in the 74th minute.

The Argentines who were energized by their goal pressured the Scots and got their second goal in 79th minute when a long range effort by Bonsegundo hit the cross bar, beat the goalkeeper and crept across the line.

At his point Argentina surged forward and in the moment of madness, a Scottish defender tackled a goal-bound Argentine attacker in the box and like what happened in the France versus Nigeria clash in Rennes on Monday night the VAR called the referee for a possible penalty check.

After the check, the referee awarded a penalty against Scotland and Bonsegundo stepped out again to take the kick but the goalkeeper of Scotland clearly came out to catch the ball. Again, the VAR called the referee for a replay and this time Bonsegundo scored to tie the match.