Nigeria expecting a tough night against a Matildas side containing plenty of ‘weapons’
Despite the absence of Sam Kerr and Mary Fowler, Nigeria still expects the Matildas to come out firing at Suncorp Stadium.
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Nigeria coach Randy Waldrum insists the Matildas still have “weapons” that can hurt his side at Suncorp Stadium on Thursday night despite the Australians’ growing injury woes in attack.
Already without captain and star striker Sam Kerr (calf), the Matildas have now also lost young gun Mary Fowler, who has been ruled out of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Group B battle in Brisbane after being concussed at a behind-closed-doors training session on Tuesday.
The versatile Aivi Luik will also miss Thursday’s match after also falling victim to concussion at the same training session, while attacker Kyah Simon was injured coming into the World Cup, and won’t play either.
“We never like to see players injured and I know how devastating that is missing matches, but I don’t think it really changes our tactics and what we’re trying to do,” Nigeria’s American coach Waldrum said.
“They obviously still have a lot of weapons that can hurt you. For them, maybe it might be somewhat of a challenge but for us, we know the strength of their team.
“I know a lot of the (Australian) players really well from playing back in the (American) NWSL.
“I know the quality of those players, so we can’t go into the match thinking we’re at some advantage for that reason.
“We have to stick to the game plan and the way we’ve been preparing for them since after the Canada match.”
The Nigerians drew 0-0 with the Canadians last Friday in Melbourne less than 24 hours after Australia’s first-up 1-0 win over Ireland in Sydney.
Waldrum was a keen observer of the Matildas’ victory over the Irish, who pushed the Australians in a physical affair.
“This group is just so difficult. On a given day anybody can make anything happen,” Waldrum said.
“I wasn’t surprised with the way the match went.
“We would hope we can make it difficult on Australia. We would hope we could cause those problems as well.
“Anything they want to give to us, I’ll take it right. If they want to be nervous, we’ll take it. If they want to fold under pressure, we’ll take it.
“Every World Cup, the host nation carries a little bit of an extra burden, but I would expect them to be completely settled now and firing on all cylinders when we play them.”
The Matildas will guarantee themselves a spot in the round of 16 with a game to spare by beating Nigeria.
Originally published as Nigeria expecting a tough night against a Matildas side containing plenty of ‘weapons’
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