Sports
By Tennyson Sampson
AMONG the four countries representing Africa in the ongoing Women World Cup in Australia and New Zealand – Nigeria, Morocco, South Africa and Zambia, the Super Falcons appear to be doing well. In its first knockout match against Canada in Group B, the team held the Canadian national team, which is the Olympic champions to a goalless draw and earned one point. But unlike the Super falcons, the Moroccan team lost their first match 0-6 to Germany, while the Banyana Banyana of South Africa lost 1-2 to Sweden and the Zambian team has been knocked out of the tournament, having lost 0-5 to Japan in the first match and 0-5 to Spain in the second match played on Wednesday.
The Super Falcons will play Australia in the second match of Group B on Thursday and many sports enthusiasts are expecting a good outing by the team. With its wealth of experience in the tournament, having qualified and participated in all past world cup finals since its inception in 1991, the Super Falcons are expected to improve on its quarter finals record.
According to some Nigerian sports experts, the expansion of this year’s tournament from 24 teams to 32 teams is a reflection of the growing popularity of the women football globally with Australia and New Zealand brazing the trail as the first co-hosts nations.
And to qualify for the next round of the tournament, the Super Falcons are expected to perform well in the matches against Australia, and Republic of Ireland. From the past records of the Super Falcons, Nigeria had previously played the Canadian and Australian national teams at the FIFA World Cup with 3-3 draw in 1995 and beating Canada 1-0 in 2011. In the matches against Australia in 2015, it ended in a 2-0 victory in favour of the Australians.
On the other hand, Ireland and the Super Falcons have never met before, since the team is making its first appearance in the FIFA Women World Cup tournament.
With its record in the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations and emerging 11 times as winners, the captain of the team Onome Ebi, who is making a record sixth appearance at the World Cup, is optimistic that the team will surpass their round 16 ouster at the 2019 edition in France.
“We have to do better than what we did at the last World Cup, regardless of whoever we play against,’’ she told a local newspaper in an interview recently.
Meanwhile Sport Brief is hopeful that the Super Falcons will continue with their impressive form after beating New Zealand 3-0 in an international friendly on April 11 before the tournament started.
In the same vein, the Falcons’ Coach Randy Waldrum assured Nigerians before the tournament started that his team were determined to perform better in 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Having held Canada to a goalless draw, Nigerians are hopeful that the Super Falcons would qualify with ease in Group B and may be able to get to the semi-finals of the tournament. Although, Nigerians are not expecting the Super Falcons to win the tournament, but they will not reject the trophy if their team springs a huge surprise and wins the Women World Cup for the first time.
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July 26, 2023 @ 18:46 GMT|
Tags: Onome Ebi Randy Waldrum
