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Nigeria and Canada’s senior women’s teams will meet for the second time in a year on Wednesday, in a behind-closed-doors training match in Malaga that marks the final test for both teams before the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament which begins in France in eight days.
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The match will kick off at 18:30 Spanish time (17:30 Nigerian time) at the La Quinta Football Center in Malaga. It will also mark the end of the Super Falcons’ camping programme in Spain.
The two teams met in a close opening match of Group B of the FIFA Women’s World Cup at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium on 21 July 2023, which ended 0-0. Nigerian goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie saved a penalty from veteran Christine Sinclair and made 14 other important saves in the afternoon’s encounter.
Coach Randy Waldrum is unlikely to make many changes from the team that played that game, although defender Ashleigh Plumptre and forward Francisca Ordega, who started that game, are not in Spain.
Waldrum is likely to stick with goalkeeper Nnadozie, defenders Osinachi Ohale, Oluwatosin Demehin and Michelle Alozie (along with possibly Chidinma Okeke) and midfielders Toni Payne, Christy Ucheibe and Deborah Abiodun.
The attacking force could be completely different with the arrival of captain Rasheedat Ajibade (who missed the clash with Canada in Melbourne due to a red card received in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations semi-final clash with Morocco in July 2022), along with perhaps Uchenna Kanu and Chinwendu Ihezuo.
The nine-time African champions will fly to France on Thursday where they will spend a week of additional training ahead of their opening match of the tournament against Brazil at the Stade Bordeaux on Thursday 25th.He July.
Nigeria’s other group stage matches are against Spain (28He July) and Japan (31street July), both at the Stade de la Beaujoire in Nantes.
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