Women's World Cup: Underwhelming draw for Tokyo Olympic champions

Canada, the reigning champions of the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, fell into a stalemate against Nigeria on Friday at the Rectangular Stadium in Melbourne, concluding the first round of matches in Group 2 of the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The Canadian team had a golden opportunity to score when Finnish referee Lina Lehtovaara awarded them a penalty in the 50th minute, which was missed by Portland Thorns striker Christine Sinclair from the USA after Nigerian goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie saved it.

Host nation Australia achieved a precious 1-0 victory over Ireland on Thursday in the opening match of the first round.

Australia currently tops the group with three points, leading Canada and Nigeria by two points.

Canada's women, eager to shine in the World Cup as they have never reached the podium before, will face Ireland in the second round on Wednesday in Perth, before clashing with the home team, Australia, on July 31 in Brisbane.

It is worth noting that the United States is the only team to achieve the Olympic and World Cup double in 1999 and 2015.

Canada entered the match without two of its stars, forward Janine Beckie and midfielder Desiree Scott, both of whom were starters in the Olympic final against Sweden, due to injury.

Canada's English coach, Bev Priestman, said, "It's a tournament. We need to regroup very quickly. We can't talk now about what we haven't done or have done," recalling that her team started their Olympic journey with a draw against Japan, 1-1.

Canada dominated throughout the match, but struggled to be effective in front of Nigeria's goal, exemplified by the missed penalty by their star Sinclair, who holds the record for the most international goals scored (190) by both male and female players.

Paris Saint-Germain's goalkeeper, Evelyn Viens, also shined by blocking a shot from Nigeria's Evelyn Nwabuoku in the 60th minute.

Nigeria's Deborah Abiodun was sent off in injury time in the first red card of the current edition.

Nigeria, which has participated in all nine editions of the World Cup and reached the Round of 16 in the last edition in France in 2019, had threatened to withdraw from the tournament due to disputes with the local federation over bonuses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

AFP