The Super Falcons of Nigeria gave a spirited performance as they held Olympic champions, Canada to a barren draw in their opening match of the ongoing FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The Super Falcons who faced a dominant Canadian side had their hands full as they had to weather barrages of attacks from the lively Canadians to keep themselves in the encounter.
The Nigerian side could have also left the football pitch with all three points in the bag as they created enough chances to win the match but could not convert the chances that came their way.
They could have also left the pitch with swollen faces if not for the flawless performance of their goalkeeper, Chiamaka Nnadozie who not only saved a penalty kick in the 50th minute of the encounter but made other saves to keep the ball out of her net.
The Canadians were handed a golden opportunity to take the lead when Francisca Ordega was adjudged to have brought down Sinclair in the box. Even though the referee initially waved away the penalty appeal, she later awarded the spot kick after VAR review.
Chiamaka Nnadozie expertly dived to her left side to pull off a superb save that stopped Sinclair from scoring her first goal of the world cup and her 191st international goal for Canada.
The Super Falcons finished the match with only ten players after Deborah Abiodun received a red card deep into injury-time at the end for a careless tackle that was initially given as a yellow card offence but upgraded to red after VAR review.
Super Falcons 22-year-old goal, Chiamaka Nnadozie scooped the player of the match award for her performance in between the sticks for the African powerhouse.
The Super are will be in action on Thursday when they take on Australia in another important encounter that may decide qualifications for both teams.
