Paris, France – The Super Falcons of Nigeria recorded their third defeat in as many matches at the ongoing Women’s Olympic Football Tournament in Paris after being subjected to a 3-1 loss to Japan on Wednesday evening.
With two of their opening matches against Brazil and Spain ending in defeats, the Super Falcons were knocked out of the contest.
However, with the backing of an expectant crowd at the Nantes Stadium, the Super Falcons could not find their rhythm, with Japan capitalising on their shortcomings to ultimately end their Paris 2024 journey.
Japan opened their scoring account through Maika Hamano in the 22nd minute before Mina Tanaka’s extension just minutes later.
Jennifer Echegini ignited a bit of hope for the West Africans, which was again dashed in stoppage time thanks to a late strike by Kitagawa Hakaru who nailed the final nail to make it 3-1 to the Japanese.
The result officially puts Nigeria’s Olympic journey to an unfortunate end.
Similarly, Zambia lost all their three Group B matches and were eliminated. The defeats were to Australia 6-5, USA 3-0 and Germany 4-1.
Here are all results from the final group matches on Wednesday.
The win caps off a perfect group stage for the USWNT, which finished with a plus-seven goal differential.
Here are the results from Wednesday’s matches.
Group A
Colombia 0 Canada 1
New Zealand 1 France 2
Group B
USA 2 Australia 1
Germany 4 Zambia 1
Group C:
Spain 2 Brazil 0
Japan 3, Nigeria 1
Group Standings
Group A
- France (6 PTS)
- Canada (3 PTS)
- Columbia (3 PTS)
- New Zealand (0 PTS)
Group B
- United States (9 PTS)
- Germany (6 PTS)
- Australia (3 PTS)
- Zambia (0 PTS)
Group C
- Spain (9 PTS)
- Japan (6 PTS)
- Brazil (3 PTS)
- Nigeria (0 PTS)
Quarter-final Schedule (Aug. 3)
USA vs Japan
Spain vs. Colombia
Canada vs. Germany
France vs. Brazil.
