A narrow Women’s World Cup exit is the start of a journey for Nigeria, not the end

Football

Published 08.08.2023

A narrow Women’s World Cup exit is the start of a journey for Nigeria, not the end

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Chiamaka Nnadozie’s Nigeria lineup had two possibilities hit the crossbar in a scoreless draw, and solely missed out on the Women’s World Cup quarterfinals after dropping a penalty shootout towards England.

By taking the European champions proper to the wire, the Super Falcons proved, as soon as once more, that rankings are much less necessary than respect for rival groups below the event’s expanded 32-team format.

In the group stage, Nigeria held Olympic champion Canada to a 0-0 draw, upset co-host Australia 3-2 and superior to the knockout stage after a 0-0 draw with Ireland.

A late purple card for England ahead Lauren James for stomping on Nigeria defender Michelle Alozie took the main target off two tight halves of soccer on Monday night time that would have gone both means.

Ashleigh Plumptre’s left-foot strike cannoned into the crossbar within the seventeenth minute and her right-foot shot, moments after the ball rebounded, pressured a diving save from England goalkeeper Mary Earps. Uchenna Kanu’s two second-half headers went inside inches.

Had any of these possibilities discovered the again of the online, it’s possible Nigeria would have gone on to win a knockout match for the primary time in 9 journeys to the Women’s World Cup and England would have adopted the defending champion U.S. group, No. 2-ranked Germany, Canada and Brazil by way of the exit.

“It’s not the end for Nigeria,” Nnadozie, Nigeria’s goalkeeper and inspirational group chief, stated as she left the locker room on the 2023 World Cup for the final time. “We go back home, rest and come back stronger.”

“Coming to the World Cup we had so many dreams. So sad today, but it’s not the end,” she added. “We’ve been playing tough, tough games. There’s no easy teams. We respect them all. Right now, we have to work harder and come back stronger again.”

Concerns by some critics that the enlargement from 24 to 32 groups would result in blow out scores have eased.

Yes, there have been some huge margins, however these weren’t restricted to the eight nations on debut: one was England’s 6-1 win over Asian champion China, a World Cup finalist in 1999, and one other was 2011 champion Japan pounding one other title contender, Spain, 4-0.

Morocco was routed 6-0 by Germany in its debut recreation on the world event however rebounded with wins over South Korea and Colombia to not solely advance to the knockout stage. At the expense of the Germans.

Nigeria was ranked fortieth in June however the gamers and coach Randy Waldrum by no means had any doubts they may combine it with the highest groups on the largest stage for the ladies’s recreation.

“We’re not surprised to get to this stage. We believe in ourselves,” Nnadozie stated. “We knew we could come here and go far in the tournament. Football happened to us. We just have to keep our heads up.”

Plumptre grew up taking part in as a ahead in England’s youth groups earlier than making a option to characterize Nigeria, and didn’t remorse it for a minute.

“Football for me is more of a life journey that I’m on. I wanted to explore more of my heritage,” she stated. “For me, this, even though it’s football, it’s learning. For me, there’s nothing more fulfilling. I’m disappointed in the result, but grateful I’ve had the opportunity.”

Now a middle again, the 25-year-old Plumptre stated the Super Falcons had set a better bar for future performances.

“We have the expectation that we should be competing with the top-ranked teams,” she stated. “We needs to be pushing them to the very finish. We might be getting outcomes towards them. Because, not solely this recreation have we finished that, however we’ve finished that all through the group stage as nicely.

“We’ve proven that in this tournament and I’m sure we can do that going forward.”

Nigeria’s American coach Randy Waldrum silenced his pre-tournament critics by making ready a group that went throughout the thickness of a crossbar of reaching the final eight on the World Cup.

“I take away that we can be and probably should be one of the top teams in the world,” he said. “I certainly hope that FIFA ranking goes from 42 to a better number. More importantly, I think we’ve just shown that we’re capable of playing with anybody.”

Waldrum stated his gamers and Nigeria’s supporters needs to be pleased with Super Falcons.

“We gave everything. I certainly hope that people back in Nigeria appreciate the job that they’ve done while they’re here and I would hope that they’re happy, not upset,” he stated. “I think we made the country proud and hopefully, around the world.”