Nigeria 1 – 0 Costa Rica: Super Falcons salvage battered image with win in Revelations Cup finale

The nine-time African champions had been the whipping team of the tournament but saved their best performance for the last day

The Nigerian women national team ended their Revelations Cup adventure positively with a fine 1-0 win over Costa Rica at the Estadio León in León de los Aldamas in the early hours of Wednesday.

Esther Okoronkwo’s first goal for the Super Falcons was all Nigeria needed to claim their only win at the four-nation invitational tournament in Mexico.

The Falcons were nowhere close to being super in losing their first two games to hosts Mexico and South American giants Colombia by similar 1-0 scorelines.

Down and out without a chance of winning the tournament’s trophy, the former African champions finally brought their A-game to the table against Costa Rica’s Las Ticas.

Dominating their opponents with their physicality and intelligence, Nigeria missed several goalscoring chances before the breakthrough arrived on the stroke of halftime.

Young midfielder Jennifer Onyi Echegini, who had been involved in a lot of Nigeria’s fine attacking play, wriggled her way to the baseline before sending a cross to the back post, where Esther Okoronkwo lurked.

Okoronkwo steadied herself with a composed first touch before curling the ball past the goalkeeper into the far post.

Ihezuo, Kanu, and Ajibade all had opportunities to extend Nigeria’s lead after the break. Still, poor finishing ensured that Costa Rica were a goal away from drawing the game until the final whistle.

The CONCACAF representatives had drawn both of their first two matches against Mexico and Colombia but they, ultimately, could not find a way back against Nigeria.

With the win, the Super Falcons halt a terrible run of seven consecutive losses in all competitions.