Edwin Okon’s ladies acquitted themselves well in
their World Cup opener against Sweden but know it will count for nothing
if they fail to beat the Aussies
Nigeria women take on the Australia women national team in their
second Group D game of the 2015 Fifa Women’s World Cup in Canada on
Friday night.An impressive second half display from Edwin Okon ladies ensured they survived the fire powers from Sweden in a thrilling 3-3 draw, while their opponent got subdued 3-1 by the American ladies – and a win for the reigning African women champions will see them book an early flight to the second round of the competition.
Although but sides will be meeting for the first time ever, Australia who are ranked 10th in the world will be aiming to come back into the tournament by taming the Nigeria – who are ranked number 33 in the world, but will have a lot of work to do to achieve that because Okon’s ladies are yet to lose any game in their last 10 games – with 40 goals for and eight against.
The Super Falcons have plenty of attacking threats to disrupt the Maltidas, with Desire Oparanozie now due a good performance following a game of relative anonymity against the Swedes. Halimatu Ayinde , another Nigeria mainstay, will have to step up her intensity and move the ball quicker through midfield ifAsisat Oshoala is to profit. Francesca Ordega and Ngozi Ebere , in particular, were impressive and will be hoping for another stellar performance on Friday.
One false move, however, and Australia are out. There is significant pressure to cope with as Nigeria are within 90 minutes of eliminating Alan Stajcic’s enterprising outfit at the very first juncture.
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