Paris 2024: NFF President boasts of better Nigeria performance against Spain

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

After a narrow 1-0 loss to Brazil in the opening Group C encounter of the women’s football tournament at the Paris 2024 Olympics on Thursday, the President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau, expressed his view that the South Americans struggled against the Super Falcons.

Gabi Nunes scored the decisive goal for Arthur Elias’ side in the 37th minute of what turned out to be a closely contested match.

Gusau remains optimistic that the Super Falcons will deliver a strong performance against world champions Spain, following what he described as an unlucky display in their opening match.

“No problem playing Spain next. Didn’t you see Brazil were praying for the game to end?” Gusau told www.totorinews.com after the match.

“Brazil could not make four passes at once. There was nothing special about Brazil.

“The Super Falcons were just unlucky not to have converted the chances they created in the game. That’s football for you,” he concluded.

The game marked the closest the Super Falcons have come to beating Brazil since their 4-3 loss in the quarterfinals of the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup in the United States.

Another encounter at the Beijing 2008 Olympics ended in a 3-1 victory for the Brazilians.

Now, the focus for the nine-time African champions is to secure a positive result against world champion Spain in their second group game on Sunday.