Africa powerhouse nation Nigeria are set to begin their 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup Group A campaign with a clash against Norway on Saturday at Stade Auguste-Delaune II in Reims, France.
The Super Falcons go into the clash knowing all too well the difficulty of coming up against the European giants, who are one- time winners of the tournament, and in a group which also include hosts France and South Korea, starting the campaign with a positive result could be key.
Nigeria’s preparations to the game has been more challenging but at last the federation managed to gather the players on time for two preparatory tournaments this year in Spain and again in Austria.
The African champions were able to play a total of 14 friendlies, including Women’s World Cup-bound sides Canada, China and Thailand.
Under the leadership of head coach Thomas Dennerby, a lot will be expected of the Nigerians in the Falcons eighth outing at the tournament.
The Super Falcons reached the quarter-final in 1999 – their best showing in the history but they have failed to go past the group stages at the last four editions.
For the France 2019, Dennerby called up a strong 27-players squad with big names such as Barcelona’s Asis Oshoala, Guingamp’s Desire Oparanozie and Sweden-based Ngozi Ikobi, who could have a major role to play in terms of attack.
Meanwhile, Norway comes into the encounter with the mind-set that they should be able to steamroll the African champions.
In their last pre-World Cup friendly, the Grasshoppers hammered another African representative, South Africa 7-2.
The huge win against South Africa was described by most of fans as a result of motivation by the Norwegian government which stated that it would pay female players the same as the men when they play for their country.
However, the Grasshoppers will be missing the services of Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg, who has refused to play for the national side since 2017 after taking a stand against what she describes as a lack of respect for female players in Norway.
Saturday’s clash will be the very second meeting between the two sides at junior level in a competitive match.
Norway though are favourites on paper and have won three of their last five games in all competitions.
