The Super Falcons of Nigeria missed out on a place at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo after they could only draw 1-1 against Cote d’Ivoire in Lagos to crash out on away goals.
With the game goalless on aggregate after the first leg in Abidjan ended in a barren draw, Nigeria needed an outright win to progress to the next stage of the Olympics qualifiers but came up short when it mattered most.
The visitors set the cat among the pigeons when Nina Kapho opened the scoring from a freekick in the 12th minute to put Cote d’Ivoire in front at the Agege Stadium.
Super Falcons captain Asisat Oshoala had earlier passed up a chance to level matters in the 28th minute but made amends six minutes later to restore parity and send both teams into the break on level terms.
Christopher Danjuma’s side tried to force matters in the second half but the Ivorians held firm to progress to the fourth round of qualifiers on away goals.
Cote d’Ivoire next play one of Cameroon or the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the fourth round of the qualifying series next month.
Nigeria have now failed to qualify for three consecutive Olympic Games with acting head coach Christopher Danjuma, who has overseen the team following the shock resignation of Swede Thomas Dennerby, responsible for the last two failures.
