WOMEN'S FOOTBALL

Women’s World Cup sets up intriguing individual duels involving Nigeria’s Super Falcons

Published

1 year ago

July 19, 2023

With just hours to the kick-off of the expanded Women’s World Cup, intriguing fixtures are already on the card and Nigeria features prominently.

Onome Ebi v Christine Sinclair in Nigeria v Canada

First to be noted is the opening Group B encounter of Nigeria and Canada. This is the encounter of record-makers at the tournament as 40-year old Nigerian captain, Onome Ebi, a central defender will be up against another 40-year old, Christine Sinclair, a striker!

Both are also the captains of their teams. The match comes up on Friday at Melbourne’s Rectangular Stadium.

It is amazing to think that greats of the women’s football such as Julie Dolan, April Heinrichs, Ann Kristin Aarones, Celia Sasic and Nadine Kessler retired in their 20s, and another two are set to ensure that, for the first time in the history of an 11-a-side FIFA competition, players in their 40s will compete against one another.

Ebi and Sinclair will, as captains, shake hands and engage in a pre-match coin toss, before the former begins marking the latter.

Can the ageless Nigerian stop the evergreen Canadian relieving Cristiano Ronaldo and Marta (at least temporarily) of a record and becoming the first player – male or female – to score in six editions of the global finals?

Another eye-catching fixture is in Nigeria’s match-day 2. The super Falcons will face co-hosts, Australia at the Brisbane Stadium One. This will be Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala versus Sam Kerr.

Sam Kerr v Asisat Oshoala in Australia v Nigeria

Australia’s Sam Kerr is astonishingly the only player to have finished top goalscorer in three different leagues on three different continents. Oshoala has astonishingly averaged a goal per game over four-and-a-half celestial seasons at Barcelona.

This is a must-watch, blink-and-you-will-miss-it shootout between two of the greatest markswomen this game has ever produced.

WOMEN'S FOOTBALL

What a goal-laden day for Nigeria; Falconets also win with wide margin!

Published

3 hours ago

September 7, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Nigeria Super Falconets gave Nigerians additional joy after their 4-0 defeat of Venezuela in Cali, Colombia in their last group match. Their victory followed up with an earlier 3-0 win by the Super Eagles in their opening Group D match with Benin Republic in Uyo.

The Falconets’ win means they have qualified for the Round of 16 where they are most likely going to face Japan when the group games are completed on Sunday.

Both Nigeria and Germany tied on six points, but Germany have one goal better than Nigeria on goal difference.

The Super Falcons made early hays when Amina Bello put Nigeria ahead after 16 minutes. Chiamaka Okwuchukwu doubled the lead in the 28^th minute before Flourish Sebastine put in the third five minutes into the added time of the first half. Joy Igbokwe put in the back breaker four minutes into the added time of the second hald.

WOMEN'S FOOTBALL

Okwuchukwu shines despite Nigeria’s defeat to Germany in U-20 Women’s World Cup

Published

3 days ago

September 5, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Nigeria’s U-20 Women’s World Cup campaign suffered a setback as they fell to a 3-1 defeat against a clinical German side in Bogota, Colombia on Wednesday night.

The result secures Germany’s place in the knockout stages, while leaving the Falconets with work to do in their final group match.

In an end-to-end encounter, both sides created numerous chances, but it was Germany who struck first. Cora Zicai’s pinpoint cross found Alara Sehitler, who nodded home in the 17th minute to give the Europeans the lead.

Nigeria’s star performer, Chiamaka Okwuchukwu, had earlier come close to opening the scoring with a magnificent solo run, only to be denied by German goalkeeper Rebecca Adamczyk.

Okwuchukwu’s persistence paid off early in the second half when she capitalized on a defensive mix-up to draw Nigeria level, celebrating with Cristiano Ronaldo’s famous ‘siuuu’ celebration.

However, Germany’s quality shone through as they regained the lead through Sofie Zdebel, again assisted by the impressive Zicai.

Despite Okwuchukwu having another goal ruled out for offside, Germany sealed the win in stoppage time with Sarah Ernst’s powerful header.

The defeat leaves Nigeria on three points from two matches, with their final group game against Venezuela in Cali now crucial to their hopes of progressing.

WOMEN'S FOOTBALL

Points of Note in Falconets’ loss to Germany

Published

3 days ago

September 5, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Germany beat Nigeria’s Falconets 3-1 in their second group game of the FIFA U-20 World Cup. With Germany’s win, the Europeans have made it to the last 16 stage, even with a game to spare.

The coach of Germany, Kathrin Peter acknowledged the efforts of the Nigerian team , saying: “It was a really tough match today.

“That was expected, but we actually had big problems in defence. They had a few chances where we had the necessary luck, we have to admit that.

“But in the second half we were really good and asserted our dominance and I think we deserved to win in the end.”

Here are some major points:

Germany beat Nigeria 2-0 in the final match 14 years ago in Germany.

Germany have now won their last four FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup meetings with Nigeria. Alex Popp inspired a 2-0 victory in the 2010 final, Lena Petermann settled the decider in extra-time four year later, and Stefanie Sanders was the solitary scorer in Group D in 2018.