Nigeria enjoyed an encouraging start to their 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup campaign after holding Canada to a 0-0 draw in Melbourne on Friday.
In a Group B match in which the odds seemed to be stacked against them, the Super Falcons rose to the occasion to frustrate their much-fancied opponents.
Even after having a penalty awarded against them, the West Africans survived and went on to finish the match with 10 women following a red card to Deborah Abiodun. With the result, Nigeria remain unbeaten against Canada at the Fifa World Cup.
Randy Waldrum’s ladies arrived at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium 40th on the Fifa rankings to face the Canadians who are the seventh-best team in the world.
More action was witnessed in the second half although the teams never produced edge-of-the-seat moments, except for the saved penalty.
Nigeria substitute Uchenna Kanu was agonisingly denied by goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan towards the end in a one-on-one situation.
In stoppage time, the Africans went a player down when Abiodun was adjudged for a nasty tackle on Ashley Lawrence. After initially being yellow-carded, Abiodun saw that call being cancelled for a straight red after Finnish referee Lina Lehtovaara had consulted VAR.
Goal
