Women’s World Cup co-host Australia suffered defeat from the hands Nigeria’s Super Falcons at the ongoing women’s World Cup leaving their group— Group B wide open.
Emily van Egmond broke deadlock but Nigeria’s Uchenna Kanu found an immediate response; Barcelona forward Asisat Oshoala made the difference from the bench, assisting Nigeria’s second and scoring their third and match winning goal.
Australia now faces very slim chances of reaching the World Cup knockout phases of their home tournament after falling to a shock 3-2 defeat to nifty Nigeria in Brisbane.
The co-hosts now have to deal with an uphill battle to qualify from Group B, with both Nigeria and Canada in pole position to progress – both locked on four points at the top of the ratings.
The Aussies, still without their captain and lead goalscorer Sam Kerr, lacked any real conviction in front of goal, having failed to capitalize on Emily van Egmond’s well-taken opener – which was immediately cancelled out by a leveler from Uchenna Kanu in first-half stoppage time.
Nigeria came out guns blazing in the second half, and after weathering a brief Australia onslaught, launched their impressive counter-offensive, which served to subdue Tony Gustavsson’s side.
Barcelona forward Asisat Oshoala, came from the bench, teed up Osinachi Ohale to steal the lead, before Oshoala herself benefited from some Australian poor defending to slot home in the 72nd minute.
Alanna Kennedy netted a consolation header in injury time, but it wasn’t enough to earn anything from a wonderfully entertaining encounter, leaving Australia now need to beat Olympic champions Canada in their concluding Group B match if they would stand any chance of progression.
Australia head coach Tony Gustavsson felt that his team performed admirably against a durable Nigerian side despite the result. “I’m actually not that disappointed by the performance, but I am disappointed by the result. We created enough chances to score even more goals.
“The second-ball game cost us three goals tonight. We knew that Nigeria had various attacking threats. But part of the performance was definitely better than the result shows”. He said.
Cynics will question Randy Waldrum’s decision to leave Oshoala on the bench, despite the fact that the Barcelona star was nursing a knock. But the Nigerian head coach had a plan, and it unfolded perfectly. The first part was simple: stick to the 4-2-3-1 shape. It created plenty of space to navigate in central areas, and it was much easier to keep the midfield congested enough that the Matilda’s could not weave their usual magic.
Waldrum admitted as much after the game when she stated: “They were throwing everything at us at the end, and the players just repelled everything.
The Matildas simply weren’t at the races. Considering the Nigerians had failed to score in six of their last seven World Cup ties, only had a 30 per cent share of possession, and had to come from behind, this result will be considered as one of the Super Falcon’s best ever.
