Nigeria’s Super Falcons and Canadian counterparts will lock horns in a closed-doors training match in Malaga, today.
The match will be the final test for both teams ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Women’s Football event starting in France on Thursday, July 25.
The match will commence at 6.30pm Spain time (5.30pm Nigeria time) at the La Quinta Football Centre, Malaga.
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.
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