Reporting from Brisbane, Australia
The Super Falcons will look to soar as they take on the Lionesses on Monday night at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. Nigeria was a surprise runner-up in a difficult Group B that had them in the driver’s seat heading into the final group stage match day.
Nigeria has already gone toe to toe with the reigning Olympic champions Canada, co-hosts Australia, and a feisty Republic of Ireland. They don’t fear any opposition and that includes the European champions, who they will look to send packing.
The Super Falcons have flown under the radar, as they haven’t faced the high expectations that England, Germany, France, Brazil, Spain, or the U.S. has. But supporters and pundits are quickly learning that Nigeria is a serious threat and they shouldn’t be taken lightly.
“I think a lot of people didn’t have any expectations for us,” Randy Waldrum told reporters at Nigeria’s press conference on Sunday. “I felt like since we left Mexico and went into Turkey and the last two pre-match events before we came to Australia, I thought we really started coming together as a group. It was also a time when we finally had all our players together. The team now is playing under a lot of confidence. I do think we flew in under the radar to probably everybody else. I do think the players came in here with confidence from day one. They have been nothing short of phenomenal. All of this credit goes to the players. They have done so well for us.”
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