Canada’s national senior women football team came from behind to beat Nigeria’s Super Falcons 2-1 in a pre–World Cup friendly encounter at the Pinatar Arena in Murcia on Monday.
Canada who are ranked fifth in the world, dominated the opening exchanges.
But it was the African champions who took the lead three minutes before the half-hour mark, courtesy of a fine strike by Desire Oparanozie.
Talented winger Uchenna Kanu dribbled past two Canadian players before setting up Oparanozie who calmly slotted the ball into the net.
The goal rattled the Canadians and they fought hard to get back into the game immediately, but they were unable to find a breakthrough in the remaining part of the first half.
The North Americans however leveled scores three minutes after the break through Beckie Janine.
Substitute Sophie Schmidt scored the winning goal for Canada in the 53rd minute with her well-placed header going past Tochukwu Oluehi to complete a hard-fought comeback.
The Canadians are now unbeaten in their last six games.
The Super Falcons had defeated Icelandic Women’s top-flight side UMF Selfoss 6-1 in a friendly encounter on Friday.
They will now focus their attention on the WAFU Women’s Tournament as they continue their build-up ahead of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.
The eight-nation WAFU B Women’s Tournament will hold from May 8 to May 18 at Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire.
It has as participants the senior women teams of hosts Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Senegal, Togo, Burkina Faso and Niger Republic.
The draw ceremony for the tournament has been scheduled for April 16.
After the WAFU Cup tourney, the Super Falcons will move to the Avita Resort in Bad Tatzmannsdorf in Austria.
It was the same facility that hosted the Super Eagles ahead of their flight to Russia for the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals.
From Austria, the Falcons will head to France, where they will take on Norway, Korea Republic and tournament hosts
France in the Group A of the 8th FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The World Cup finals will hold from June 7 to July 7.
PM NEWS
