By Kalumiana Kalumiana
Nora Hauptle has conceded that Zambia failed use their numerical superiority against 10 women Nigeria on Saturday night in Rabat and paid the price with a 1-0 loss to the Super Falcons in their penultimate Group C match at the 2026 WAFCON.
Saturday’s loss was Zambia’s first group stage defeat at the WAFCON since Ghana 2018 when none other than Nigeria routed them 4-0.
Zambia’s loss raises concerns over their quarterfinal qualification prospects from Group C, where their final pool opponents Malawi lead on maximum 6 points after they beat bottom-placed by and winless Egypt 3-1.
Nigerias win puts the defending WAFCON champions back in contention after losing 3-2 to Malawi on July 28 on the same day that Zambia made a promising start to their Group C campaign with a thorough 6-0 victory over Egypt.
However, Zambia failed to mirror last Tuesday’s commanding form against Egypt that saw them start their Group C campaign with that emphatic victory.
Hauptle said in a post-match interview on Saturday night that she has a lot of faith that Zambia will still qualify for the quarterfinals despite the setback.
“We picked back the game well, we had the red card, we started to have more breakthroughs. We decided to change the system. The objective was to be more dominant on the ball, to use our numerical advantage, but the issue is that we started ‘chipante-pante’ (kick and rush) football. When you are one player more on the pitch, we should have taken much more over the possession. That did not help us and we failed to control the game,” Hauptle said.
Nigeria took the early lead in the 7th minute through Asisat Oshoala who outpaced the Zambia defence before eluding goalkeeper Hazel Nali to fire the ball into the net.
Zambia showed little aggression against a solid Nigerian backline, and even after the Super Falcons were down to 10 players in the 39th minute when Oluwatosin Demehin it still looked like two sides that were numerically at par.
Hauptle’s team must now beat Malawi on August 5 to ensure quarterfinal qualification.
Malawi has 6 points after beating bottom of the table and winless Egypt who have zero points.
Zambia is second and tied on 3 points with Nigeria heading into Wednesday’s winner-takes-all scenario.
“I would say it was in our hands and we did not take the chance, it was all here that we could beat Nigeria tonight,” Hauptle said.
“Now it’s to focus for the next game and stand up again and really go full out against Malawi.”
