Nigeria’s gallant performance against France in the 1-0 defeat to the host on Monday will go down as one of the best performance by this Super Falcons.
A 10-player Falcons eventually bowed to the might of Les Bleues but the game served up more than just resilience and a near defensive masterclass.
So here are some of the other things we noticed during the Nigeria vs France match.
Thomas Dennerby is an amazing ball joggler.
The soon to be 60 year-old Coach showed off some skills on the sidelines holding up play for some four seconds as he apparently entertained the crowd with some unexpected ball joggling.
It was a packed house inside the Roazhon Park in Rennes, a crowd of 28, 267 watched the game, but it was one of the poorest turn out in any Falcons game against a world cup host.
In 1999 and 2011 for instance, the games against USA and Germany saw an astonishing 65,080 and 48,817 respectively.
Rita Chikwelu is like fine wine and she keeps getting better even as she Ages.
The 31 year-old midfielder might not play any further part in the competition if Nigeria reach the second round but fail to go beyond it because of her suspension, and she will be sorely missed.
Of course we knew she got game, but she took it a notch higher in this tournament.
The French players found it almost impossible to deal with her, which will make the narrow victory all the more rewarding and exciting for the Europeans.
When Chiamaka Nnadozie cried injustice! Blue Murder! to the Referee.
A penalty awarded, taken and missed, but a replay was ordered and a yellow card to the kid sensation in what has become the talking point of the Match.
The 18 year-old charged out in protest and holding back her tears screamed ” Wetin I do na,” at least from the lip reading it seemed so.
At that moment Melissa Borjas from Honduras could have wowed us all with a response in Pidgin English.
It was a great game and one with a fine denouement, this is why it will be remembered as one of the best games Nigeria have played on any world cup finals.
