Nigeria are 40th in FIFA’s rankings to come against reigning Olympic champions Canada are ranked 7th in the world, while both teams looked to get their campaign under way after Australia took the lead in the group with a win over Ireland on the opening day.
The Super Falcons came into the tournament on the back of two wins and three losses in their last five outings, while the Maple Leafs of Canada have recorded four wins in their last five matches... It was indeed to say Canadian ladies were rated as one of the tournament favourites.
Canada started the match looking every bit like the World Cup contender they are, but ended up falling flat as the match wore on.
Nigeria, on the other hand, looked all at sea before going from strength to strength. They seemed to have later discovered their feet as the game progressed;’ as they had to resort to playing more compact in front of the back four and intermittent counters. A missed sitter by goal monger, Asisat Oshoala and a long range shot deflected by ifeoma Anumonu, would have created first upset in the tournament.
In the end, the tale of the tape suggests Canada should have walked away with the three points, especially when you consider that they enjoyed 68 percent possession while edging the Super Falcons 16-11 in total shots on target.
The Canadians, who saw captain Christine Sinclair also miss a second-half penalty kick, may have felt disappointed of their own performance.
You must give it to the Nigerian team who worked so hard and sticked to their game plan which to a large extent, limited the attacking prowess of the Canadians.
The result was no easy feat for Randy Waldrum’s Super Falcons, who finished the game with 10 players after Deborah Abiodun was shown a red card for a dangerous challenge on Canada’s Ashley Lawrence six minutes into stoppage time.
You can really finish telling the story of this epic encounter without the heroic performance of the Nigerian goal stopper, Chiamaka Nnadozie, who stood before the goal post and denied the Canadians all attempt to put ball behind the net. Little wonder she was named woman of the match.
