•Super Falcons
Nine-time African champions, the Super Falcons of Nigeria and Canada senior women team will go toe-to-toe for the second time in one year today, in a closed-doors training match in Malaga ahead of the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament starting in France in eight days.
The match will commence at 6.30pm Spain time (5.30pm Nigeria time) at the La Quinta Football Centre, Malaga, reports Daily Trust.
It also draws the curtain on the Super Falcons’ camping programme in Spain.
Both teams were involved in a hard-fought FIFA Women’s World Cup Group B opener at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium on 21 July 2023, with the game ending 0-0.
Super Falcons goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie saved a penalty kick by veteran Christine Sinclair, and made 14 other big saves in the afternoon encounter.
Coach Randy Waldrum is unlikely to make many changes from the squad that played that match, though defender Ashleigh Plumptre and forward Francisca Ordega, who started that match, are not in Spain.
Waldrum will most likely stick with goalkeeper Nnadozie, defenders Osinachi Ohale, Oluwatosin Demehin and Michelle Alozie (alongside, perhaps Chidinma Okeke), and midfielders Toni Payne, Christy Ucheibe and Deborah Abiodun.
The strike-force may be entirely different with captain Rasheedat Ajibade (who missed the clash with Canada in Melbourne due to a red card bagged in the Women AFCON semi-final clash with Morocco in July 2022) coming in, alongside perhaps Uchenna Kanu and Chinwendu Ihezuo.
The Super Falcons will fly into France tomorrow, where they will spend a week in further training ahead of their first match of the tournament against Brazil at the Stade Bordeaux on Thursday, July 25.
Nigeria’s other matches in the group phase are against Spain (July 28) and Japan (July 31), both at the Stade de la Beaujoire in Nantes.
