WAFCON 2026: Zambia rue missed opportunity after Nigeria defeat

Zambia head coach Nora Hauptle believes her side missed a major chance to beat Nigeria after the Copper Queens were defeated 1-0 by the Super Falcons in their WAFCON 2026 Group C meeting on Saturday.

Asisat Oshoala scored the only goal of the match in the first half to give Nigeria their first victory of the tournament. The result leaves Zambia with a difficult task ahead of their final group match, with qualification now dependent on both their own result and Nigeria dropping points.

Nigeria played most of the game with 10 players after Tosin Demehin was shown a straight red card for a foul on Barbra Banda. Despite being reduced to 10, the African champions defended resolutely and held on for three points.

Hauptle said Zambia had controlled large periods of the match but failed to make their numerical advantage count after Demehin’s dismissal.

“I think we had a lot of control and created a lot of breaks which were stopped by fouls and the red card was correct and Nigeria had a breakthrough from which they scored which was the keeper’s error due to her position,” she said.

The Zambia coach also identified a change in approach after the interval as one of the reasons her team struggled to turn possession into clear chances. Zambia switched to a 4-4-2 formation, with the intention of using the extra player to dominate the match.

“After the halftime we decided to change the system so we went with 4-4-2, the objective was to dominate with the ball, use our numerical advantage but the issue we had was that we started launching the ball from the defence to the attack which did not help to dominate the game and we did not take control of possession.

“We brought in more skillful players which helped us become better but we didn’t create lots of dangerous chances but we also didn’t allow Nigeria anything so they only scored from one of the two breaks they had. It was in our hands but we did not take our chance to beat Nigeria now we need to focus for the next game and go all out against Malawi.”

Nigeria’s goal came from one of only two significant breaks Hauptle felt the Super Falcons created, but Zambia were unable to produce enough attacking threat of their own to find an equaliser.

The Copper Queens will now face Group C leaders Malawi on Wednesday, 5 August. They must win that match and hope Nigeria lose points against Egypt if they are to improve their position in the group.

The Super Falcons’ victory was their first of WAFCON 2026, while Zambia will go into their final fixture knowing that there is no margin for error. Hauptle said the team would now turn its attention fully to the decisive meeting with Malawi.