‘Nigeria’s Women’s World Cup group is the toughest’ – Randy Waldrum

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

The head coach of Nigeria’s senior women’s national team Randy Waldrum has admitted that Group B of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup is the toughest.

The nine-time African champions will face Olympic champions Canada, co-host Australia, and the debutant Republic of Ireland in the group as the biggest women’s football Mundial gets underway this month.

The West African powerhouse has faced two of its opponents recently except for Ireland being the first and the American sees the first game against Canada as the most important game.

“Our group has been rated the toughest with Australia, the host. Olympic champions Canada and one of the top-ranked teams in the world, Ireland,” Waldrum told Sounding Off on Soccer podcast.

“It’s going to be a tough one. We have been following our opponents’ games and preparations as well as giving our players the right information to be able to prepare for our opponents.”

Last year, Super Falcons played Canada twice, losing the first and playing out a 2-2 draw in the second international friendly match.

He added: “We have played Canada twice. They beat us before the second game when we were leading before they equalized. A lot is going into the tactical part of the team. We have a talented team.

“Defensively and offensively, we will try to work on how to match Canada. The first game against Canada will be very important to get a point or something from because the second game against the host will be much tougher.

“I don’t think any of the three games would be easy but we will work very hard on our first game against Canada so that we don’t struggle into our final group game against Ireland.”

Nigeria’s first match of the finals is against Canada, at Melbourne’s Rectangular Stadium, on Friday, 21 July, before clashes with co-host nation Australia and the Republic of Ireland on Thursday, 27 July, and Monday, 31 July respectively, at the Lang Park in Brisbane.