Nigeria and Canada senior women’s teams go toe-to-toe for the second time in one year on Wednesday, in a closed-doors training match in Malaga which amounts to the final test for both teams ahead of the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament starting in France in eight days.
The match will commence at 6.30 pm Spain time (5.30 pm Nigeria time) at the La Quinta Football Centre, Malaga. 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. Nigeria’s 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 nine-time African champions will fly into France on Thursday, 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, 25th July.
Nigeria’s other matches in the group phase are against Spain (28th July) and Japan (31st July), both at the Stade de la Beaujoire in Nantes.
