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The President of the Nigerian Football Federation, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau remains hopeful that the Super Falcons can still advance from their group at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, despite suffering their second defeat.

After the team’s narrow 1-0 loss to Spain, Gusau acknowledged the late goal from Spain was a tough blow, especially after the Falcons’ improved performance compared to their previous game against Brazil.

“It’s not easy to play the world champion. And then we saw how the game went. We were just able to get the chance at the 86th minute,” Gusau said. “And we created a lot of chances, preliminary chances. But I know the game is still on. We can still qualify to the next round.”

“If, by the grace of God, we can work harder than what happened when we beat Japan, obviously we are going to put in the next round of tournaments. There is still an opportunity for us and we just hope it will be good. And by the grace of God, we are able to do more.”

Gassy concluded, “You know, the tournament is a very tight tournament. We have only two days. So it’s just a recovery period for them to be able to play the next match. We’ve got a lot of chances, clear chances that we can come back to get the game done. But we’ve spoken with the coaches and I think they know what exactly they need to do. And by the grace of God, let’s wait and see how it goes in this match against Japan.”

The Super Falcons will face Japan in their final group game, where they must secure a victory to keep their Olympic hopes alive.