WOMEN'S FOOTBALL

Oshoala’s Barcelona clinch Women’s Champions League in comeback victory

Published

1 year ago

June 3, 2023

Women's Champions League - Final - FC Barcelona v VfL Wolfsburg - Philips Stadion, Eindhoven, Netherlands - June 3, 2023 FC Barcelona's Alexia Putellas lifts the trophy with teammates after winning the Women's Champions League Final REUTERS/Piroschka Van De Wouw

Barcelona won their second Women’s Champions League in three years on Saturday when they came back from two goals down to beat VfL Wolfsburg 3-2 in a thrilling final before a sold-out crowd in Eindhoven.

Swedish defender Fridolina Rolfo struck the winning goal from close range in the 70th minute, rounding off a sensational comeback for Barcelona who had been 2-0 down at half time.

The Spanish league champions quickly set the record straight in the second half as Patricia Guijarro headed in two goals in the first five minutes after the break.

The equaliser came as no surprise as Barcelona had dominated play for most of the first half, lacking efficiency only in front of the goal.

They had threatened to score in the opening minutes, before Polish striker Ewa Pajor put Wolfsburg ahead in the third minute after pressuring Barcelona’s English defender Lucy Bronze into losing possession.

Barcelona quickly increased the pressure but saw Salma Paralluelo and Aitana Bonmati squander chances when face-to-face with Wolfsburg goalkeeper Merle Frohms, while Irene Paredes headed a corner wide from close range.

Wolfsburg waited for their chances on the counter-attack and saw their patience rewarded in the 37th minute when Pajor played a perfect cross to Alexandra Popp who headed in the German team’s second goal against the run of play.

But Barcelona’s second-half whirlwind proved too much for Wolfsburg, who were chasing their first Champions League crown since 2014.

They close to an equaliser once, from a corner in stoppage time, but in the end offered too little to prevent Barcelona from lifting the trophy in front of nearly 34,000 fans in Eindhoven’s PSV Stadium.

This year’s final was the first before a sold-out crowd in the history of the Women’s Champions League and attracted the biggest crowd ever to a women’s soccer match played in the Netherlands.

-Reuters

WOMEN'S FOOTBALL

What a goal-laden day for Nigeria; Falconets also win with wide margin!

Published

2 hours ago

September 7, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Nigeria Super Falconets gave Nigerians additional joy after their 4-0 defeat of Venezuela in Cali, Colombia in their last group match. Their victory followed up with an earlier 3-0 win by the Super Eagles in their opening Group D match with Benin Republic in Uyo.

The Falconets’ win means they have qualified for the Round of 16 where they are most likely going to face Japan when the group games are completed on Sunday.

Both Nigeria and Germany tied on six points, but Germany have one goal better than Nigeria on goal difference.

The Super Falcons made early hays when Amina Bello put Nigeria ahead after 16 minutes. Chiamaka Okwuchukwu doubled the lead in the 28^th minute before Flourish Sebastine put in the third five minutes into the added time of the first half. Joy Igbokwe put in the back breaker four minutes into the added time of the second hald.

WOMEN'S FOOTBALL

Okwuchukwu shines despite Nigeria’s defeat to Germany in U-20 Women’s World Cup

Published

3 days ago

September 5, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Nigeria’s U-20 Women’s World Cup campaign suffered a setback as they fell to a 3-1 defeat against a clinical German side in Bogota, Colombia on Wednesday night.

The result secures Germany’s place in the knockout stages, while leaving the Falconets with work to do in their final group match.

In an end-to-end encounter, both sides created numerous chances, but it was Germany who struck first. Cora Zicai’s pinpoint cross found Alara Sehitler, who nodded home in the 17th minute to give the Europeans the lead.

Nigeria’s star performer, Chiamaka Okwuchukwu, had earlier come close to opening the scoring with a magnificent solo run, only to be denied by German goalkeeper Rebecca Adamczyk.

Okwuchukwu’s persistence paid off early in the second half when she capitalized on a defensive mix-up to draw Nigeria level, celebrating with Cristiano Ronaldo’s famous ‘siuuu’ celebration.

However, Germany’s quality shone through as they regained the lead through Sofie Zdebel, again assisted by the impressive Zicai.

Despite Okwuchukwu having another goal ruled out for offside, Germany sealed the win in stoppage time with Sarah Ernst’s powerful header.

The defeat leaves Nigeria on three points from two matches, with their final group game against Venezuela in Cali now crucial to their hopes of progressing.

WOMEN'S FOOTBALL

Points of Note in Falconets’ loss to Germany

Published

3 days ago

September 5, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Germany beat Nigeria’s Falconets 3-1 in their second group game of the FIFA U-20 World Cup. With Germany’s win, the Europeans have made it to the last 16 stage, even with a game to spare.

The coach of Germany, Kathrin Peter acknowledged the efforts of the Nigerian team , saying: “It was a really tough match today.

“That was expected, but we actually had big problems in defence. They had a few chances where we had the necessary luck, we have to admit that.

“But in the second half we were really good and asserted our dominance and I think we deserved to win in the end.”

Here are some major points:

Germany beat Nigeria 2-0 in the final match 14 years ago in Germany.

Germany have now won their last four FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup meetings with Nigeria. Alex Popp inspired a 2-0 victory in the 2010 final, Lena Petermann settled the decider in extra-time four year later, and Stefanie Sanders was the solitary scorer in Group D in 2018.