Copper Queens discover that having an extra player is apparently just a suggestion
If football matches were decided by who had more players on the pitch, Zambia’s Copper Queens would be planning a victory parade. Unfortunately, goals remain the preferred currency, and Nigeria’s Super Falcons left Saturday’s WAFCON clash with all three points despite spending more than 50 minutes playing with just 10 women.
Morocco, 2 August – The defending champions produced what could generously be described as an extended masterclass in “doing more with less,” frustrating Zambia to a 1-0 victory in their Group C showdown at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations
Nigeria needed only eight minutes to remind Zambia that defensive hesitation is football’s version of pressing the self-destruct button. Goalkeeper Hazel Nali paused, defender Lushomo Mweemba hesitated, Rachael Nachula couldn’t recover, and veteran striker Asisat Oshoala politely accepted the invitation to race through before calmly slotting home the only goal of the evening.
Then came what should have been Zambia’s golden ticket.
In the 40th minute, Nigerian defender Oluwatosin Demehin was shown a straight red card after bringing down Barbra Banda, leaving the Super Falcons with 10 players and the Copper Queens with what looked like a clear advantage.
What followed, however, was less “siege on Nigeria’s goal” and more “a fascinating experiment in how not to exploit numerical superiority.”
Instead of pinning Nigeria back, Zambia repeatedly launched hopeful long balls, turning possession into something they admired mostly from a distance while the Super Falcons comfortably protected their slim lead.
Copper Queens coach Nora Häuptle could barely hide her frustration, admitting her side abandoned the script almost as soon as Nigeria went down to 10 players.
“The objective was to be more dominant on the ball, to use our numerical advantage but the issue we had is that we started a bit back to chipantepante football,” she lamented.
Translation: the plan was chess, but the team accidentally started playing pinball.
Häuptle questioned the wisdom of repeatedly launching long balls instead of making the extra player count.
“When you are one player more on the pitch, and you just hit every ball long from the centre backs, it did not help to dominate the game. We should have taken much more possession,” she said.
The coach admitted substitutions brought slight improvement, but by then Nigeria had settled into survival mode with the confidence of a team that has seen this movie before.
“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,” Häuptle reflected.
The defeat leaves Zambia with no room for mathematical generosity. The Copper Queens must now beat Malawi in their final Group C fixture to book a place in the quarterfinals, while Nigeria head into their match against an Egypt side still searching for their first points with qualification already within touching distance.
For Zambia, the lesson was painfully simple: having an extra player is helpful, but only if someone remembers to use it.
©Nkanionline 2026