Izuchukwu Okosi
Nigeria’s women national team, Super Falcons, on Friday morning held Canada to a goalless draw in their first Group B game of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Prime Business Africa presents the five observations from the game at the Melbourne Rectangular stadium.
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1. The Lack of Creativity In Midfield
The duo of Deborah Abiodun and Christy Ucheibe were deployed in central midfield by coach Randy Waldrum thanks to the suspensions of Halimat Ayinde and Rasheedat Ajibade after their expulsions at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in Morocco last year.
Despite the impressive defensive display on Friday, the absence of the absennt players showed that creativity was lacking in central midfield.
Christy Ucheibe had a good game in terms of her defensive contributions – making six tackles and three blocked shots.
However her progressive carries did not produce same results. She ended up wasting good chances to break the lines no thanks to her wayward shots and sloppy passes.
Former youth international, Deborah Abiodun, was shown a second yellow card towards the end of the game.
Despite her energy and defensive nous, she did little to create from the base which underlies the miss of Ayinde.
2. Waldrum’s ‘Wisdom’ in Dropping Okobi, Chikwelu
Two names were conspicuously missing when the Super Falcons World Cup squad was announced: Rita Chikwelu and Ngozi Okobi.
The latter in particular was a more shocking news to many Nigerian football fans as she (Okobi) is easily one of the team’s most creative sparks in the Falcons.
There was no indication of a disciplinary issue with the easy-going midifeld star whose experience could have been a lift to this Falcons.
In recent interviews she granted to some media outlets, Okobi stated unequivocally that she was fit to be in the team.
The absence of Chikwelu was not much of a big complaint as she was considered to be on the same trajectory with the likes of Onome Ebi whose time in the team should be coming to an end.
3. Nnadozie Magic
FC Paris goalkeeper, Chiamaka Nnadozie produced a save to deny ageless Canadian international, Christine Sinclair from the penalty spot in the second half.
There was other saves from the goalkeeper but the highlight of the game from a Nigerian perspective was the penalty save.
Nnadozie is proving to be Africa’s best goalkeeper of her generation and should be in the equation for the next African Footballer of The Year prize if her sterling performances continue.
4. Onome Ebi Decision
The Nigerian head coach Randy Waldrum did not play captain Onome Ebi who is one of three experienced global superstars of the game who are possibly making their last appearance at the Women’s World Cup.
Although the decision of the coach to keep Ebi on the bench did not ultimately hamper the Falcons, but the thought process was to ensure that the Canadians did not take advantage of the lack of pace of the experienced defender.
Ebi could still have come in the second half but nonetheless it was a fair judgement.
The paring of Osinachi Ohale and Esther Demehin have not played together in a big tournament but performed impressively.
That could be the central defensive paring going forward in the foreseeable future.
5. Kanu Impact
Second half substitute, Uchenna Kanu brought spark to the team when she was introduced into the game.
Kanu’s trickery and pace from the flanks created problems for Canada who were admittedly better in the second half.
Perhaps the head coach should have started Kanu from the kickoff.
Against Australia, it will be imperative to start the forward or at least introduce her early in the game.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
