[UPDATE] 2023 Women’s World Cup: Super Falcons’ chances for better outing

Putting up an appearance for the 7th time in the FIFA Women’s World Cup makes the Super Falcons no newbie to the biggest tournament for women’s football in the world. They have been around, seen it to some extent and now with another chance to better their lots.

But then, if preparation were to be a metric to deciding the chances of a team excelling in a competition, the Super Falcons would have to wait for another four years to get past their best-ever finish: the quarter finals.

Boasting of a talent-studded squad headlined by Barcelona’s Asisat Oshoala, Atletico Madrid’s Rasheedat Ajibade, Sevilla’s Toni Payne, only a few nations outdo Nigeria in terms of quality even though in recent time, that strength of quality has proven not to be enough as the nine-time African champions are slowly losing grip of their monopoly on the continent of Africa.

The familiar aura is for Nigeria to come into the World Cup as Africa champions. But a rollercoaster 2022 WAFCON in Morocco saw the Super Falcons taste three different sore defeats before wounding up the fourth best team in the tournament — a low last experienced ten years ago.

The team has, however, decided to put that behind them just as with the controversies of owed bonuses and administrative lapses, as they look forward to making an unprecedented mark on the world stage.

A Group of Death

The group of death is how some pundits describe Group B where Nigeria is pitted with co-hosts Australia, Olympic champions, Canada and rookies, Republic of Ireland.

While they are not of the outright favorite two to qualify from the group on paper, you can’t put it past the Nigerian team to hold their own against Canada and Australia.

Their dark-horse position in the group could end up playing to their favour should either of the top two teams underestimate them, giving them the slightest chance to scrape points off them.

It is, however, only idealistic that such would happen, as such the Waldrum-led side must be ready to earn their place in the last 16 and not bank on some remote happenstances.

Star Player
Asisat Oshoala

Unarguably, the biggest player in the squad. Oshoala, for both club and country, is not only inspirational but talismanic.

The Barcelona forward’s technique, pace, positional play and knack for goals make a nightmare for defenders.

In a team profiled with more of new faces, her experience having played in two editions of the World Cup would prove to be useful.

Rising Star

Deborah Abiodun

At 19 years, Abiodun will be featuring in her first FIFA Women’s World Cup. However, she is not coming on a vacuum as the University of Pittsburgh women’s midfielder was one of the standout players for the Falconets in the U-20 World Cup in Costa Rica.

Her inclusion in the team might have come as a shocker to many as it was at the expense of an experienced Ngozi Okobi; but looking at the plot from Waldrum on the long run, one would come to understand why such trade-off was necessary, especially given the long-standing struggles of the Falcons in the creative midfield role.

Given the right support and trust, Abiodun’s confidence on the ball and creative sparks in the middle of the park should make her one of the revelations of the tournament.

Coach

Randy Waldrum

This will be the American’s first FIFA World Cup outing as a coach and he would have wished it came with a better backdrop than of owed salaries, grievances and squabbles with his employers.

Since taking over the job in 2020, Waldrum hasn’t inspired confidence in the country, made worse by an underwhelming performance at the last WAFCON — his first ever tournament with the Super Falcons.

Not much is expected from him going into this tournament as with the Super Falcons. So they would only shock Nigerians and prove critics wrong with a second round finish.