Australia vs Nigeria Preview

Australia will look to make it two wins in two Women’s World Cup games when they face African heavyweights Nigeria at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

The hosts began their group stage campaign with a narrow 1-0 win over the Republic of Ireland with a penalty goal from stand-in captain Steph Catley making the difference.

Their failure to score from open play will have left manager Tony Gustavsson with plenty to think about as regards team selection, especially as inspirational striker Sam Kerr is still out with a calf injury.

But even with Kerr’s absence which is expected to last through the group stages, Gustavsson will hope he can mastermind another narrow win as that will book their place in the next round.

Meanwhile, even without Kerr, Nigeria manager Randy Waldrum has described the Australian side as “dangerous with so many different weapons.”

The Super Falcons opened their group stage campaign with a surprise 0-0 draw with FIFA’s #7 ranked nation, Canada.

While their upcoming opponents earned three points from the penalty spot, they salvaged one point courtesy of goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie who denied Canada’s prolific goalscorer Christine Sinclair from 12 yards.

That took the Super Falcons’ unbeaten streak to four games (W3, D1), all of which were against fellow WWC participants.

But both coach Waldrum and defender Osinachi Ohale acknowledged they’ll need to “work hard” and continue improving particularly now that they’ve failed to score in six of their last seven WWC games (W1, D1, L5), including a 2-0 loss to Australia in the 2015 edition.