FIFAWWC: Australia vs Nigeria Preview: Super Falcons seek Maltidas scalp

Nigeria will battle co-hosts Australia in the second round of the group stage games  on Thursday in Brisbane as the Africans see to avoid an early exit from the ongoing FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The Super Falcons were the only African side to have secured any point after the first set of matches at the historic current 32-nation global championship Down Under.

Co-hosts Australia did make a winning start to their World Cup campaign a week ago, but were certainly made to work hard for it in front of over 75,000 supporters in Sydney, the Matildas, just about, beating Republic of Ireland 1-0.

The only goal came from the penalty spot shortly after halftime, with Hayley Raso bundled over in the area before Steph Catley shouldered the responsibility and fired into the top corner.

Following the 0-0 draw with Canada in their opening game, Nigeria will be looking to avoid losing consecutive matches at a single Women’s World Cup for the first time.

Chiamaka Nnadozie proved to be Nigeria’s heroine after pulling off a fine save to deny Christine Sinclair from the penalty spot in the 50th minute.

Meanwhile, 19-year-old Deborah Abiodun was sent off in the 96th minute for a very reckless tackle on Friday, meaning she will miss this one suspended.

However, Nigeria can take confidence in the return of Rasheedat Ajibade and Halimatu Ayinde after serving a suspension in the opening match.

Nigeria have failed to score in 17 of their 27 Women’s World Cup games, which is more times than any other team. They have only found the net in one of their previous seven World Cup matches – a 2-0 win against South Korea in 2019 – despite having 57 shots (12 on target) in that time.

Despite their strength, Australia’s recent World Cup record is not unblemished, with only seven wins out of their last 17 matches, suffering seven defeats.

These two met in the group stage eight years ago in Canada, with Australia winning 2-0 thanks to a brace from Kyah Simon in what was their only meeting at a World Cup to date.

Nigeria was eliminated in the first round after picking up just one point, while Australia was knocked out in the quarter-finals by eventual runners-up Japan.

Australia have won their last three World Cup matches against African sides, though the 2015 victory over Nigeria was the most recent.

Notably, they were defeated by Ghana 2-1 in the 2003 edition, proving they are susceptible to African opposition.

While a win for Australia sends them to the round of 16 before their final group-stage game with Canada, Nigeria also needs to defeat the Matildas to keep them in good stead to progress into the Round of 16 before their last group game with Ireland.