Ben Waldman – Winnipeg Free Press
Nigeria Advances To Round Of 16 At Women's World Cup With 0-0 Draw Against Ireland
Nigeria's defender #14 Oluwatosin Demehin (R) celebrates with Nigeria's forward #11 Gift Monday after the end of the Australia and New Zealand 2023 Women's World Cup Group B football match between Ireland and Nigeria at Brisbane Stadium in Brisbane on July 31, 2023. (Photo by Patrick Hamilton / AFP)
Brisbane, Australia: Nigeria used a scoreless draw against Ireland on Monday to advance to the round of 16 of the Women's World Cup. The pre-tournament underdogs finished second in Group B behind co-host Australia.
After a relatively quiet first half, the Nigerians picked up the intensity in hopes of scoring the goal that would move the them to the top of the group. A diving save from Ireland's Courtney Brosnan in the 52nd minute kept her clean sheet intact and secured Ireland's first point in its debut appearance at the tournament.
Nigeria came closest to breaking the deadlock when Toni Payne found the head of Uchenna Kanu. A diving save by Courtney Brosnan was needed to keep the game scoreless.Each team's best chance to score in the first half came within the first 15 minutes from their respective star players. Ireland's Katie McCabe was just off target with a left-foot shot in the 5th minute and Asisat Oshoala, the star of Nigeria's 3-2 upset win over Australia last week, couldn't convert off a breakaway that came nine minutes later.
With the point earned from the draw, Nigeria is into the round of 16. The 40th-ranked team in the world avoided defeat in all three of its group-stage matches, including the shocking win over Australia.
Nigeria's run is all the more surprising given the turmoil surrounding the team prior to the tournament. T he team was able to put an ongoing pay dispute behind it and qualify for the knockout stage for the third time in its history.
Ireland's women's team heads home after earning one point in its first major global tournament. The team will look to use the experience gained to its advantage as it attempts to qualify for its first ever Women's European Championship in 2025.
"We've got to be very good defensively. Considering the short amount of time we've been together, we've been able to a good job of that. Especially playing teams like Canada, Australia and Ireland. I put them up there against anyone else." - Randy Waldrum, Nigeria coach.
"We wanted to walk away from the tournament with points. It was a tough fight, and I was proud of the performance we put in. To keep a clean sheet and get a point on the board at the World Cup was big for us." - Courtney Brosnan, Ireland goalkeeper.
As the runner-up in Group B, Nigeria will play the winners of Group D next Monday in Brisbane.
With its tournament over, Ireland will now shift its focus to qualifying for its first Women's European Championship in 2025.
Denise O'Sullivan Set To Train Fully On Wednesday Ahead Of Ireland's Opener Against Australia
Denise O'Sullivan is expected to take part in a full Ireland training session on Wednesday ahead of Ireland's World Cup opener against Australia on Thursday. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
The Republic of Ireland camp expects Denise O'Sullivan to train fully on Wednesday, 24 hours ahead of the World Cup opener against the host nation at Stadium Australia (kick-off 11am Irish time).
O'Sullivan has completed two light sessions since Sunday and the FAI report that "everything is going according to plan with her return to play procedure".
The 29-year-old Irish midfielder was brought to hospital near Brisbane last Friday night with a shin injury after a foul by Colombia's Lorena Bedoya 20 minutes into a warm-up game at Meakin Park.
"The tackle was over the ball, the ball was away and it was on the ankle," said Ireland manager Vera Pauw. "Even a hand lower, she would have been out of the World Cup, for sure. And it was deliberate."
The FAI abandoned the match three minutes later as this was the second foul on an Irish player, the first being a bruising challenge on Ruesha Littlejohn.
Pauw said she withdrew her players from a much-needed run out on Friday because she saw "fear in their eyes".
Littlejohn, who is expected to start in midfield against Australia, adopts a different perspective.
"I don't think I would say I was afraid. I would definitely say there was a concern."
There will be bite in the Aussie tackles too?
"I think we all know we can handle ourselves. We are a physical enough team. But we're not a dirty team. We'll compete against Australia like they'll compete against us."
However, the Sydney Morning Herald are predicting a "rough and ready" encounter with the Irish on the back page of their Tuesday edition.
"What happened the other night obviously impacts the Irish team but it doesn't necessarily impact our preparation," said Matildas defender Clare Hunt. "It's terrible that a game had to be abandoned for those reasons but, in terms of the Irish physicality, they've always had it and they always will.
"We know that is a strength of theirs and we are just working to nullify that in any way we can. We're obviously also a very transitional and physical team, so I think it will be a good battle."
With Thursday's game returning to the scene of the 2000 Olympic Games, the Australian camp had a surprise visit from Cathy Freeman, the track star who won the 400 metre gold medal on an electric night 23 years ago.
The visit started with the Matildas sitting in a darkened room and Freeman's iconic race being re-run on a big screen.
"By the end of it there was a lot of emotion going around in the room," said midfielder Aivi Luik. "And when they turned the lights on, we turned around and there she was. It was a huge surprise to us. A lot of girls were very emotional.
"We had a chat to her and talked about how she dealt with pressures because, obviously, she had the weight of the nation on her shoulders. And she was just one – we're a whole team, so we're quite lucky in that regard.
"We just sat around. We asked her questions informally, and she spoke back to us just like she was a friend."
The FAI have no plans to welcome Sonia O'Sullivan into camp. A resident of Melbourne, O'Sullivan won silver in the 5,000 metres at the Sydney Games.
The Matildas have also taken a collective stand against Fifa, demanding equal pay at the men's and women's World Cups while questioning why all 32 nations competing this month do not have collective bargaining agreements.
Ireland and Australia both previously secured a collective bargaining agreement with their governing bodies.
[ Infantino and Greek MEP Eva Kaili have made similar statements in speeches praising Qatar ]
Although Fifa have yet to confirm the presence of Gianni Infantino at the tournament's opening press conference in Auckland on Wednesday morning (1.30am Irish time), the global governing body's president is expected to speak.
However, unlike his pre-tournament performance in Qatar last year, when Infantino claimed to feel "gay, Arab, disabled" and like "a woman," it will not be broadcast live on the Fifa Hub.
Women's World Cup Co-Hosts Australia Looked At Women's Euros In England, Qatar World Cup For Legacy Plan
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JULY 20: Steph Catley of Australia runs towards the center of the pitch for the ... [+] coin toss before the FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 Group B match between Australia and Ireland at Stadium Australia on July 20, 2023 in Sydney / Gadigal, Australia. (Photo by Maddie Meyer - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
FIFA via Getty ImagesFootball Australia looked at the Women's Euros in England and the Men's World Cup in Qatar while making its legacy plan beyond the Women's World Cup, the governing body's CEO, James Johnson, told Forbes in an interview.
Australia, co-hosts of the ongoing Women's World Cup with New Zealand, released "Legacy '23" – which its governing body described as a strategic plan to harness the growth of women's football and deliver enduring benefits for Australia's largest community sport beyond 2023.
Johnson said that when Australia bid to co-host the July 20-August 20 tournament, they aimed to use the tournament to transform the sport and made the legacy plan six months after winning the bidding process.
The legacy plan includes three key components – to increase player participation across Australia, work with the governments to increase investment and a high-performance program for the Matildas to prepare them for the World Cup.
LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 31: England players celebrate the victory during the UEFA Women's Euro ... [+] England 2022 final match between England and Germany at Wembley Stadium on July 31, 2022 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Kieran Galvin/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
DeFodi Images via Getty ImagesJohnson said that Football Australia looked at four football events from the past – the 2022 Women's Euros in England, the 2022 Men's World Cup in Qatar as well as the 1994 Men's World Cup and the 1999 Women's World Cup, which were both held in the United States.
"So we looked at certainly the Euros in England but we are already quite advanced at the time on our legacy journey. But something we learned from the Euros in England was the importance of the first match to the remainder of the competition. It was a big game and it set the tone for the tournament," Johnson told Forbes.
"So what we learned from that and what we did here in Australia is we shifted the Matildas opening match from Sydney Football Stadium, which has a capacity of about 45,000 to Stadium Australia, which has a capacity of 80,000."
The move, then, seemed like a little bit of a gamble for Australia, but eventually, it worked wonders as the game attracted 75,784 fans, the largest ever crowd for a women's football match in the country, as Matildas won 1-0 against Ireland in their opening match.
DOHA, QATAR - SEPTEMBER 03: In this handout provided by The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, ... [+] The Official Emblem of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™️ is unveiled on September 03, 2019 in Doha, Qatar. The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™️ Official Emblem was projected on to a number of iconic buildings in Qatar and across the Arab world and displayed on outdoor digital billboards in more than a dozen renowned public spaces in major cities. (Photo by Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy via Getty Images)
Getty Images"We also looked a lot around what Qatar did with legacy, and their focus was very much on infrastructure, football infrastructure, stadiums, but also new transport systems etc," Johnson explained.
"Now we knew very well that we were never gonna get the level of investment into a legacy that the Qatar government was going to give. But we looked at the framework and the strategy that Qatar provided.
"The other legacy that we looked at was the 1994 Men's World Cup in the United States, which was a period for the U.S. Game that transformed the broader game in the United States.
"So we looked at 1994 and we also looked at 1999 Women's World Cup in the U.S. And how these two tournaments were used by US soccer to transform the sport."
Johnson says the aim of the legacy is that although the tournament is held in Australia and New Zealand, they want the impact to be felt in the broader region of Asia and Oceania.
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JULY 20: Australia players celebrate the team's first goal scored by Steph ... [+] Catley (obscured) during the FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 Group B match between Australia and Ireland at Stadium Australia on July 20, 2023 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Maddie Meyer - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
FIFA via Getty ImagesIn the build-up to the World Cup, the Matildas faced every top-10-ranked team as part of their preparation.
Johnson said that Football Australia analyzed the team's weaknesses in early 2020.
"Number one was the team didn't have enough depth, so there weren't enough young players that were coming through and getting valuable match minutes. And on the other hand, what we learned is that the Matildas, while they had a very good win ratio at the time, they weren't beating top global nations and in particular top European nations," he explained.
"And obviously that was a problem because they're the types of teams you face off against at the back end of World Cup tournaments, so they were the two challenges.
"So we invested heavily in a very hard schedule for the Matildas and our agreement with our head coach, Tony Gustavsson, was that he needed to play against top team nations and he needed to give young players an opportunity to get match minutes and time against big nations. It was very challenging at the start because we lost a lot of games and in some games, we lost quite badly."
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 26: Sam Kerr of the Matildas throws her boots into the crowd following ... [+] the Women's International Friendly match between the Australia Matildas and Brazil at CommBank Stadium on October 26, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Getty ImagesAustralia's quarter-final defeat to South Korea at the Women's Asian Cup was a particularly disappointing result, Johnson mentioned.
"So we had some challenges early on, but what we've seen in the past 12 months is that strategy paying off. And in the last six months, in particular, the Matildas have beat several big nations – They've beat England, Sweden, Spain and France.
"Now look, these are only friendly matches, so we're not getting too far ahead of ourselves, but what I can say is the team is as well prepared as they could be as part of our legacy program."
Australia, who have never gone beyond the quarter-finals at the World Cup, face Nigeria in their second group game on Thursday before taking on Olympic champions Canada.
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