This article is a part of the Guardian’s Women’s World Cup 2023 Experts’ Network, a cooperation between probably the most very best media organizations from the 32 nations who certified. theguardian.com is operating previews from two nations every day within the run-up to the match which kicks off on 20 July.
Overview
This match unearths the Nigeria crew in an surprisingly prone state. Having misplaced the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, a identify they’d up to now monopolized for many years, the Super Falcons will arrive in Australia with out their trademark air of secrecy.
Of path, 2022 used to be now not the primary time Nigeria has didn’t win Wafcon. Twice they’d been usurped via Equatorial Guinea however on each events it felt as though it used to be partially right down to their very own complacency. This time there’s a actual sense that the remainder of Africa is catching up.
The Super Falcons misplaced to each South Africa and Morocco, the 2 groups who went directly to contest a last by which the latter triumphed. They then misplaced to Zambia within the third-place playoff. Considering that backdrop, it sort of feels fully conceivable that the nine-time African champions will be unable to equivalent their fulfillment from the final World Cup, in 2019, once they reached the final 16. Their very best ever efficiency on the match used to be again in 1999 , once they were given to the quarter-finals.
In addition, the perennial cloud of owed bonuses and administrative interference hangs over the Super Falcons as soon as once more. In a contemporary interview at the Sounding off on Soccer podcast, Randy Waldrum, the top trainer, lifted the lid at the power he has confronted over his last squad listing and criticized the loss of preparation forward of the World Cup.
“They wanted me to pick a goalkeeper from Nigeria for the World Cup that I have never seen, who has never been in one of our camps,” he mentioned. He additionally published that the crew kept away from coaching forward in their Wafcon defeat to Zambia as a result of unpaid bonuses. In reaction, the Nigeria Football Federation described his outburst as an “afterthought” and immediately criticized the inclusion of the keeper Yewande Balogun.
There is, then again, some solace to be present in the truth that Waldrum has a squad brimming with ability, particularly within the attacking spaces. Barcelona’s Asisat Oshoala is on the top of her powers and has simply gained the Champions League. She has an excellent supporting forged, together with Atlético Madrid’s Rasheedat Ajibade and Saint-Étienne’s Esther Okoronkwo. There may be extra intensity in midfield, a space the place Nigeria have struggled for choices up to now. “I think the current Super Falcons squad is loaded with many talented players,” Waldrum mentioned. “There are a lot of players who have much to offer in the team and I am reasonably excited and hopeful.”