Nigeria and Canada, who have met twice at the FIFA Women’s World previously, will open their account for this ninth edition of women football’s greatest showpiece when they clash at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium on Friday.
The Super Falcons’ delegation departed from their base – Hotel Sofitel in Brisbane – on Thursday morning, for the 100-minutes flight to Melbourne, oozing confidence and a determination to sustain their impressive record against the Canadians at the biggest stage.
In their first FIFA World Cup meeting, in Sweden on 8 June 1995, both teams played out a 3-3 draw at the Olympia in Helsingborg, with Nigeria’s goals coming from Rita Nwadike, Patience Avre and Adaku Okoroafor. This was after Canada had stomped to a 2-0 lead within 20 minutes. Both teams were eliminated at the group stage.
They met again in Germany in 2011, when Perpetua Nkwocha’s 73rd minute goal made the difference at the Rudolf-Harbig Stadium in Dresden. Again, both teams were eliminated.
Canada had beaten the Super Falcons twice in friendlies before their latest encounter – a 2-2 draw in Victoria City in February 2022.
However, Friday, 20 July 2023 is a new day with lots of promises for both teams, with the Canadian girls carrying a big markup as reigning Olympic champions, and having five players in their ranks with more than 100 caps at international level: Christine Sinclair, Sophie Schmidt, Kadeisha Buchanan, Ashley Lawrence and Jessie Fleming.
Sinclair is both the world’s record international caps holder (323) and record international scorer (190). At 40, she is attending her sixth Women’s World Cup finals.
Canada’s best performance at the Women’s World Cup was in 2003, when they lost the bronze medal match to hosts USA. When they hosted the competition eight years ago, they were bundled out by the USA in the quarter-finals.
