Izuchukwu OkosiNigeria Super Falcons on Monday evening were denied the chance to lay their hands on the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations trophy for the 10th time following the 5-4 penalty defeat in the second semifinals of the day against hosts Morocco in Rabat.
The Falcons suffered two red cards incidents after Halimat Ayinde and Rasheedat Ajibade were sent off for dangerous tackles.
The Falcons who are nine-time champions of the continent trudged on and took the game to extra time after 1-1 in regulation time with nine players and managed to see it out forcing the game to penalties.
Ifeoma Onumonu missed her spot kick albeit Rita Chikwelu, Ashleigh Plumptre, Rita Otu and Gift Monday all converted theirs.
The hosts had all their efforts from 12 yards in the back of the Falcons’ net.
The Atlas Lionesses will now face South Africa in the final of the tournament on Saturday.
Only two teams have previously won the WAFCON since the maiden edition in 1998.
Nigeria have won on nine occasions while Equatorial Guinea were crowned champions in 2008 and 2012.
The tournament was cancelled in 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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