Women’s World Cup: Nigeria progress as Republic of Ireland pick up first point
The Republic of Ireland earned their first-ever Women’s World Cup point after a goalless draw against Group B rivals Nigeria.
The result means that Nigeria have secured a surprise place in the last 16, ahead of Olympic champions Canada who lost 4-0 to Australia.
The Super Falcons finished a point above the Canadians and even went unbeaten in the group after a draw against Canada and a shock win against Australia.
Nigeria came into the tournament ranked 40 in the Fifa world rankings and were not expected to progress, with both Canada and Australia sitting in the top ten.
They will face the winners of Group D on Monday, which will be England if they avoid defeat to China in their final group game.
Both teams struggled to create many chances throughout the match. Katie McCabe fired wide with the first chance of the match before Barcelona forward Asisat Oshoala also failed to hit the target at the other end.
Uchenna Kanu had the best chance of the match but Courtney Brosnan pulled off a superb save to tip her header onto the crossbar.
McCabe scored directly from a corner during Ireland’s match against Canada and nearly repeated the feat but the ball landed on the roof of the net.
Nigeria knew that qualification was secure as news filtered through that Australia were comfortably beating the Canadians and were happy to close the match out.
Cover Photo: Ghana 2008: Nigeria Vrs Cote d’Ivoire in Sekondi by Oluniyi Ajao used under license by CC BY-SA 2.0.
