Soccer World Cup 2015 / Nigeria

This article covers the Nigerian national football team of the women in the soccer World Cup Women 2015 in Canada . Nigeria was the only African team to take part in the World Cup finals for the seventh time and met former world champions USA , among others . Nigeria were eliminated in the group stage for the sixth time. The team had qualified as the winner of the African Cup of Nations 2014 and won all games.

qualification

Nigeria first had to qualify for the 2014 African Championship . The team should play against Sierra Leone in the first round . Since Sierra Leone withdrew, the second round was reached without a fight. In the second round, the team was able to prevail against Rwanda . After a 4: 1 away game, the home game was won 8: 0 and the African Championship in Namibia was reached.

Group stage

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Nigeria Nigeria	3	3	0	0	012: 200	+10	09
2.	Ivory Coast Ivory Coast	3	1	1	1	006: 600	± 0	04th
3.	Namibia Namibia	3	1	0	2	003: 500	−2	03
4th	Zambia Zambia	3	0	1	2	001: 900	−8	01

October 11, 2014 in Windhoek
Nigeria	-	Ivory Coast	4: 2 (1: 1)
October 14, 2014 in Windhoek
Zambia	-	Nigeria	0: 6 (0: 3)
October 17, 2014 in Windhoek
Namibia	-	Nigeria	0: 2 (0: 2)

Semifinals

October 22nd, Windhoek	Nigeria Nigeria	-	South Africa South Africa	2: 1 (2: 0)

Nigeria was already qualified for the World Cup finals when they reached the finals.

final

October 25, Windhoek	Nigeria Nigeria	-	Cameroon Cameroon	2: 0 (2: 0)

The best goalscorers were Desire Oparanozie with 9 goals, who was also the top scorer of the tournament, and U-20 World Cup top scorer Asisat Oshoala with 8 goals (4 of them in qualification) and Esther Sunday (3, 2 of them in qualification) .

preparation

On March 22nd in Bamako (1: 1) and on April 11th in Abuja (8: 0) games against Mali took place as part of the qualification for the African Games. On May 22nd and 29th, Mali should also qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games , but withdrew. On May 25, they will play a game behind closed doors against World Cup hosts Canada.

The team

Contingent

The squad of 23 players (including three goalkeepers) had to be communicated to the FIFA general secretariat no later than ten working days before the opening match. On May 20, a list of 28 players who would fly to Canada was published, but two players were listed twice. In addition to some experienced players who played in the last World Cup finals, young players were also nominated who finished 2nd in the 2014 U-20 World Cup , including top scorer and best player of the tournament Asisat Oshoala . According to a press release, the three-time 39-year-old World Cup participant Perpetua Nkwocha was not included in the squad reported by FIFA and was also used once.

No.	Player	birth date	society	Country games	Country goals	World Cup games	World Cup 2015
							Sp.	Gates
goal
1	Precious Dede	January 18, 1980	Nigeria Ibom Queens	99	00	9 (2003, 2007, 2011)	3	0	0	0	0
21st	Christy Ohieriaku	12/13/1996	Nigeria Rivers Angels	00	00		0	0	0	0	0
16	Ibubeleye Whyte	01/09/1992	Nigeria Rivers Angels	06th	00		0	0	0	0	0
Defense
6th	Josephine Chukwunonye	03/19/1992	Nigeria Rivers Angels	25th	00	1 (2011)	3	0	2	0	0
23	Ngozi Ebere	08/05/1991	Nigeria Rivers Angels	20th	01		3	0	0	0	0
5	Onome Ebi	05/08/1983	Belarus FK Minsk	51	00	7 (2003, 2007, 2011)	3	0	1	0	0
2	Blessing Edoho	09/05/1992	Nigeria Pelican Stars FC	04th	01		0	0	0	0	0
15th	Ugo Njoku	11/27/1994	Nigeria Rivers Angels	07th	00	6 (U-20 2014)	1	0	0	0	0
22nd	Sarah Nnodim	December 25, 1995	Nigeria Nasarawa Amazons	02	00	6 (U-20 2014)	1	0	1	1	0
3	Osinachi Ohale	December 21, 1991	Nigeria Rivers Angels	26th	01	3 (2011)	2	0	0	0	0
midfield
12	Halimatu Ayinde	05/16/1995	Nigeria Delta Queens FC	12	00	6 (U20 2014)	3	0	0	0	0
20th	Cecilia Nku	10/26/1992	Nigeria Rivers Angels	09	01		1	0	0	0	0
14th	Evelyn Nwabuoku (C)	11/14/1985	Kazakhstan BIIK Kazygurt Shymkent	42	03		3	0	1	0	0
19th	Martina Ohadugha	05/05/1991	Nigeria Rivers Angels	35	02		0	0	0	0	0
attack
18th	Loveth Ayila	09/06/1994	Nigeria Rivers Angels	03	00	6 (U20 2014)	0	0	0	0	0
10	Courtney Dike	02/03/1995	United States Oklahoma State University	02	00	6 (U20 2014)	2	0	0	0	0
4th	Perpetua Nkwocha	03/01/1976	Sweden Clemensnäs IF	99	80	9 (2003, 2007, 2011)	1	0	0	0	0
13	Ngozi Okobi	12/14/1993	Nigeria Delta Queens FC	25th	03		3	1	1	0	0
9	Desire Oparanoia	12/17/1993	France EA Guingamp	33	22nd	3 (2011)	3	0	0	0	0
17th	Francisca Ordega	October 19, 1993	United States Washington Spirit	26th	07th	2 (2011)	3	1	0	0	0
8th	Asisat Oshoala	10/09/1994	England Liverpool Ladies FC	17th	11	6 (U20 2014)	3	1	0	0	0
7th	Esther Sunday	03/13/1992	Nigeria Sunshine Queens FC	26th	05		1	0	0	0	0
11	Ini-Abasi Umotong	05/15/1994	England Portsmouth ladies	00	00		0	0	0	0	0
Coaching staff
Head coach	Edwin Okon	October 19, 1970	Nigeria Football Federation				3		0	0	0
Remarks: ↑ Numbers according to the FIFA squad list (published on May 28, 2015) ↑ As of May 28, 2015 ↑ ^a ^b missions and goals as of June 16, 2015 ↑ Status before the 2015 World Cup (italics = games at the 2014 U-20 World Cup) ↑ The club plays in the fourth highest Swedish league (Division 2 Norra Norrland Syd Damer)

Players not included

Player	birth date	society	Country games	Country goals	World Cup games
goal
Sandra Chii Chii	10/10/1997	Nigeria Bayelsa Queens	0?	0?	6 (U-20 2014)
Defense
Mariam Ibrahim	12/12/1995	Nigeria Nasarawa Amazons	0?	0?	0 (U-20 2014)
attack
Chiwendu Ihezuo	09/06/1994	Nigeria Delta Queens	0?	0?	6 (U20 2014)

↑ Data insecure

Games at the World Cup

Vancouver

Winnipeg

Venues

When the groups were drawn, Nigeria was not seeded and was drawn to Group D with the Central and North American champions USA.

The team will also face Australia and Sweden . Nigeria have never played against Australia. There have been four games against the USA so far, all of which have been lost. There have been three games against Sweden so far, none of which have been won. Two games were lost, the last one in the 2007 World Cup preliminary round ended in a draw.

The group is considered to be the strongest in the World Cup; it was the only one with four teams that reached at least the semifinals in their last continental title bouts. In the FIFA world rankings before the World Cup, Nigeria is only 33rd, but group opponents USA are in 2nd place, Sweden in 5th place and Australia in 10th place; Group cut = 12.5.

Nigeria only showed refreshing attacking football in their first game against Sweden. The young Nigerians had to pay tribute to their inexperience after two corners of the Swedes and fell 2-0 down. Thanks to their youthful vigor, however, they were able to turn the game around, with the top scorer and best player of the U-20 World Cup last year Asisat Oshoala in particular . In the end it was only enough to make it 3: 3, but the game gave hope for more. This hope was not fulfilled in the game against Australia. The Nigerians looked tired and never found their game. Only the substitution of Perpetua Nkwocha attracted attention, making her the oldest World Cup player for four days. After the game, Ugo Njoku was also banned for the next game because of an assault overlooked by the referee. In the last game against the USA they not only lost the game with 0: 1, but also Sarah Nnodim with a yellow-red card and Nkwocha her age record to Christie Rampone . Nigeria was eliminated for the sixth time in the preliminary round.

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	United States United States	3	2	1	0	004: 100	+3	07th
2.	Australia Australia	3	1	1	1	004: 400	± 0	04th
3.	Sweden Sweden	3	0	3	0	004: 400	± 0	03
4th	Nigeria Nigeria	3	0	1	2	003: 600	−3	01

Mon., June 8, 2015, in Winnipeg
Sweden	-	Nigeria	3: 3 (2: 0)
Fri June 12, 2015 in Winnipeg
Australia	-	Nigeria	2: 0 (1: 0)
Tue., June 16, 2015, in Vancouver
Nigeria	-	United States	0: 1 (0: 1)