Former stars of the Super Falcons have tipped the team to qualify out of the group stage at the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand Tidesports source reports.
Although Nigeria is considered one of the underdogs of Group B, they are the only nation in this group to have been present at every single Women’s World Cup. At the 2019 World Cup, they made the knockout rounds, and this time around they will be looking to repeat it in a very tough group.
Nigeria was ranked 38 in the World in 2019, compared to 33 in 2015, when they failed to make it out of the group stage. Now they are at number 40, but are still the top-ranked African nation at this year’s World Cup but are by far, the lowest ranked in Group B.
Stella Mbachu, a member of the Falcons squad to four World Cup tournaments (1999-2011), is positive about the Falcons’ chances, saying they can even go beyond Nigeria’s best run at the World Cup.
“Yes, they have the chance to qualify for the knockout stage. Football is all about determination and hard work. If you have all these, I bet you, they will go far. If they act like a team, have courage, believe in themselves, then they can go to any length, they can go far and succeed.
“If they are all determined and work hard, I think they will even go beyond the quarter-final, the Falcons highest achievement at the event in 1999,” she told Tidesports source.
Another former Falcons star Patience Avre believes the Nigerians can pull an upset against the favourites in the group.
“Yeah, they’ve come a long way I believe they are going to do well and they are going to shock a lot of people this time. Everyone should watch out for them, I’m seeing them going far.