{"id":92647,"date":"2023-07-22T10:03:37","date_gmt":"2023-07-22T09:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/2023-women-world-cup-super-falcons-sit-on-knife-edge-after-canada-draw"},"modified":"2023-07-22T13:27:50","modified_gmt":"2023-07-22T12:27:50","slug":"2023-women-world-cup-super-falcons-sit-on-knife-edge-after-canada-draw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/2023-women-world-cup-super-falcons-sit-on-knife-edge-after-canada-draw","title":{"rendered":"2023 Women World Cup: Super Falcons sit on knife edge after Canada draw"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>This was the moment.<\/p>\n

Football games, sometimes, are won by small margins.<\/p>\n

And in Nigeria\u2019s opening fixture at the 2023 Women\u2019s World Cup against Canada on Friday morning, that moment came in the 50th minute.<\/p>\n

Super Falcons goalkeeper, Chiamaka Nnadozie stood eyeball-to-eyeball with Christine Sinclair, who had placed the ball on the penalty spot.<\/p>\n

The Canada captain was seeking to become the first player to score in six World Cups. She is no novice. An experienced campaigner by every account.<\/p>\n

So was Nnadozie. The Nigerian stopper has pulled off a few penalty saves in the course of her career. And again, she dived low to her left to deny Sinclair.<\/p>\n

When the referee\u2019s whistle went off at full time, the scoreboard read: Canada 0 Nigeria 0.<\/p>\n

Nnadozie was awarded Woman of the Match in what was overall a fine outing for Randy Waldrum\u2019s ladies at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium.<\/p>\n

Before the tournament, Waldrum had been involved in a very public spat with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).<\/p>\n

\u201cIn October, every country was given $960,000 from FIFA to prepare for the World Cup, where is that money?<\/p>\n

\u201cUp until about three weeks ago, I had been owed 14 months salary, and then they paid 7 months salary.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still have players that haven\u2019t been paid since 2 years ago when we played the summer series in the USA…it is a travesty,\u201d Waldrum said.<\/p>\n

The American\u2019s comments created not only off-field distractions but tension.<\/p>\n

So it was indeed a mild surprise that it didn\u2019t reflect in their display against the Canadians.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is a decent start for the Super Falcons,\u201d Biola Solace-Chukwu, a podcaster and freelance sports journalist said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, I didn\u2019t expect they would get a point here, considering the poor preparations and chaos between the coach and NFF.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia is definitely a tricky one but going by this match, I think the Super Falcons can improve on coordination especially in front of goal. What would really help would be trying to squeeze out at least one point against Australia and then beat Ireland. That\u2019s the best bet to qualify,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Sola Oyeniyi, who is a Chief Reporter with ACL Sports, however, feels the Falcons should have been braver.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could see the girls playing for a draw today in the second half and this should not have been so, especially after that penalty save.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe momentum should have shifted heavily to us and we should have capitalised on it by making attacking changes early enough because we were doing well defensively,\u201d she hinted.<\/p>\n

Hopefully, Waldrum has taken notes of areas to work on, as their next group game will be against Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can only hope that they build on this, there were great moments and lost chances which should be worked on against hosts Australia which would not be easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll have a better opinion on their chances of qualification after the Australia game. Give them another chance to work on these mistakes today,\u201d Latifat Adebayo-Ohio, a reporter at Making of Champions said.<\/p>\n

The hosts pulled off a stirring 1-0 win over Ireland in their opener and know three points against Nigeria will see them qualify for the knockout rounds.<\/p>\n

Oyeniyi is not optimistic about Nigeria\u2019s chances against the Aussies, who will be without their star player, Chelsea\u2019s Sam Kerr.<\/p>\n

She adds: \u201cI don\u2019t see us beating Australia even without Sam Kerr.<\/p>\n

\u201cIreland will be another tough nut to crack.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong, we have quality players that can take us out of this group but I do not see our coach showing enough initiative that suggests we will do anything special. But fingers crossed.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. This was the moment. Football games, sometimes, are won by small margins. And in Nigeria\u2019s opening fixture at the 2023 Women\u2019s World Cup against Canada on Friday morning, that moment came in the 50th minute. Super Falcons goalkeeper, Chiamaka Nnadozie stood eyeball-to-eyeball with Christine Sinclair, who had placed the ball on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":92646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,18],"tags":[10916,1570,2140,3130,254,852],"class_list":["post-92647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-2023-women-world-cup","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-nigeria-2","tag-canada","tag-nigeria","tag-super-falcons"],"yoast_head":"\n2023 Women World Cup: Super Falcons sit on knife edge after Canada draw - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This was the moment. Football games, sometimes, are won by small margins. 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