Unlucky night! Super Falcons defender shown marching order in Houston’s NWSL away defeat against San Diego

Michelle Alozie featured in all the Super Falcons matches at the recently concluded FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. 

Super Falcons defender Michelle Alozie was shown a straight red card in Houston Dash’s 1-0 away defeat to San Diego Wave in a National Women’s Soccer League fixture(NWSL) played on Sunday night, Soccernet.ng reports.

The 26-year-old marked her return to club football with a spectacular strike to help her team claim a 1-1 draw against Kansas City Current in their last game following her appearance for the Super Falcons at the World Cup.

Alozie, who has been one of the key players for Houston Dash since she joined them in 2021, was trusted with her third successive appearance since her return from the showpiece and was one of the important players head coach Sam Laity was trusting to help the team change its fortune after a woeful run that has left Houston languishing around the bottom of the table.

But it resulted in an unlucky night for the Nigerian defender as she was shown a straight red card just after the half-hour mark for denying her opponent a goalscoring opportunity. Her dismissal was confirmed after a review of the video assistant referee.

Alozie miscalculated her control from a Dash’s throwing before bringing down a San Diego player Rachel Hill who was dashing toward the goal after managing to beat her to the ball.

Houston was under heavy pressure thereafter with San Diego seizing advantage of their opponent one player down to bombard the away team’s box.

Their resistance was finally broken in the 57th minute when American defender Christen Westphal set up her compatriot Jaedyn Shaw to give the home side the lead which later came out to be the goal they needed to claim their third straight NWSL victory.

The defeat leaves Houston Dash in 10th position with 20 points in the 12-team league table after 18 games. They will face Racing Louisville in their next fixture on September 16.

Alozie was one of the standout players for the Super Falcons at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, where the team lost 4-2 to England in a penalty shootout in the Round of 16.

The 26-year-old will hope to be available to play a part in Nigeria’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations(WAFCON) qualifier against São Tomé and Principe in a fortnight.