Nigeria Super Falcons Vs Canada – Match Preview & Predictions – 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup

Nigeria Super Falcons Vs Canada – Match Preview & Predictions – 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup

This match is scheduled for the early hours of Friday morning the 21st of July by 3:30am Nigerian time at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium in the City of Melbourne, Australia.

#FIFAWWC #NGACAN #CANNGA #2023FIFAWWC #FIFAWWC2023

Nigeria Super Falcons ranked 40th in the world are currently in group B alongside Canada ranked 7th, Australia ranked 10th and Republic of Ireland ranked 22nd in the world. There are a total of 32 teams from 8 groups in this competition and only the top two teams from each group will advance to the Round of 16 so getting a result in this game would be very significant. Playing the 7th ranked team in our group in our very first game would surely be a huge task for the Super Falcons.

From Canada's previous 7 appearance at this competition, they have played a total of 27 games, winning 8 matches, drawing 5 and losing 14 games. They scored 34 goals and conceded 52 times. From Nigeria Super Falcons 8 appearances at the Women’s World Cup, they have played a total of 26 matches, won 4 games, drawn 3 and lost 19 games, the Super Falcons have also scored 20 goals and conceded 63 times (the highest by any team in the competition).

Canada qualified for this tournament in July last year, coming second in the 2022 CONCACAF Women Championship. Nigeria super falcons on the other hand qualified for this competition last year finishing 4th at the 2022 Women African Cup of Nations losing in the Semifinals to the host Morocco and in the third-place match to Zambia.

Based on our head to head record in the competition, Nigeria Super Falcons have faced Canada twice at the FIFA Women's World Cup, the first time was in 1995 when we played a 3-3 draw at the group stage, followed by a 1-0 win also in the group stage in 2011.

Nigeria also last played Canada twice in April last year in Canada, losing the first game 2 goals to nil and playing a 2-2 draw in the second game against the Olympic Champions.

Canada's best performance at the FIFA Women’s World Cup was a fourth place finish in 2003 while the Super Falcons best performance was as quarterfinalists in 1999 followed by a round of 16 finish in 2019, all other appearances have seen the super falcons exiting the competition in the group stage and we hope it is different this time around. Though Nigeria Super Falcons have dominated in Africa over the years, winning 11 of 14 Women African Cup of Nations, They are yet to show this dominance in the world.

Obviously, everyone expects Canada to win this game, remember Canada won the 2020 Olympics Women Football Gold Medal in 2021, and I am sure they will be aiming for a victory against Nigeria and also finish top of the group while also planning to get their first ever medal at the FIFA Women World Cup.

In this Canadian Team, watchout for players like Jessie Fleming, Jordyn Huitema and their 40-year old veteran Christine Sinclair with 190 international goals and making her 6th World Cup Appearance for Canada.

This is a tough group, most people won’t expect Nigeria to make it our of this group, to be honest Canada and Co-host Australia are favorite to make it to the knockout stage from this group, however, I strongly believe the Super Falcons can somehow manage to flyout of the group.

The match will be shown live on Supersports on your DSTV or GOTV in Nigeria, you can also watch the match live on Afrosports.

Who do you see winning this game? I would like to know your thoughts in the comments below.

Nigeria Super Falcons 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup squad

GK: Chiamaka Nnadozie (Paris FC)
GK: Yewande Balogun (Saint-Étienne)
GK: Tochukwu Oluehi (Hakkarigücü Spor)
DF: Osinachi Ohale (Deportivo Alavés)
DF: Ashleigh Plumptre (Leicester City)
DF: Glory Ogbonna (ALG Spor)
DF: Oluwatosin Demehin (Reims)
DF: Rofiat Imuran (Reims)
DF: Michelle Alozie (Houston Dash)
DF: Onome Ebi (Abia Angels)
MF: Halimatu Ayinde (Rosengård)
MF: Christy Ucheibe (Benfica)
MF: Toni Payne (Sevilla)
MF: Deborah Abiodun (Bittsburgh)
MF: Rasheedat Ajibade (Atlético Madrid)
MF: Jennifer Echegini (Florida State Seminoles)
FW: Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona)
FW: Uchenna Kanu (Racing Louisville FC)
FW: Ifeoma Onumonu (NJ/NY Gotham)
FW: Desire Oparanozie (Wuhan Chegu Jianghan)
FW: Esther Okoronkwo (Saint-Étienne)
FW: Gift Monday (UD Granadilla Tenerife)
FW: Francisca Ordega (CSKA Moscow)

Thanks for watching and as always, have a good day.