The Super Falcons of Nigeria have arrived at their camp ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup which is set to commence on July 20 as they hope for a good outing at the tournament.
The Falcons’ first opponents in the 2023 Women’s World Cup which will be hosted by Australia and New Zealand are Canada on July 21. Then, on July 28 and July 31, they will play Australia and the Republic of Ireland respectively.
The co-hosted World Cup which will feature 32 Women’s teams for the first time in the history of the tournament, is the sixth time Nigeria will feature in the tournament.
Since the tournament gained prominence in 1991, the Super Falcons have been heavily involved but their best outing was in the 1999 edition hosted in the United States. Nigeria finished in the quarter-finals stage of the tournament.
Over the years, the Super Falcons have failed to reciprocate their dominance in Africa on the world stage as they have won a record 11 WAFCON championships but nothing in global tournaments.
The last time they made a positive impact in the World Cup was in 2019 when they finished in the round of 16. Before then, they failed to make it out of the group stage in two successive editions of the tournament.
In the 2023 Women’s World Cup, the Super Falcons have found themselves in a very difficult group as they have been paired with the co-hosts Australia, the Republic of Ireland, and the Olympic winners Canada.
They are going into the tournament after finishing fourth in the 2022 WAFCON in Morocco which means they are not in the best of form.
To make matters worst, the Super Falcons didn’t have the best preparation for the World Cup as the Nigeria Football Federation had to postpone the start of their camping in Abuja, which was scheduled to commence on June 20.
Despite all these, the head coach of the Super Falcons, Randy Waldrum insisted that his team would have a good World Cup.
“I like the squad we’ve put together and the last few camps we’ve had, they’ve been coming around. My only concern is not having the time to camp in Nigeria for three weeks”, the American tactician told Punch.
“But I love the group and they are going to represent Nigeria very well.”
