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By Ebenezer Bajela
It will be a battle of two continental giants when Nigeria take on Brazil in their Paris 2024 Olympics Women’s Football Tournaments Group C opener starting at 19: 00 at Matmut Atlantique Stadium in Bordeaux, France Games on Thursday (today), PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Undoubtedly, both countries are the undisputed giants of their continents, going by their achievements and will face each other looking to make a winning start to their campaign.
While the Super Falcons have dominated African women’s football, winning 11 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations titles, the Seleção have won the Copa América eight of the nine times the tournament has held, making them the undisputed giants of South American football.
Today’s encounter will be the third time both sides will be squaring off, with the Female Canaries claiming victories in their two previous encounters.
The first encounter was at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1999, where Brazil won 4-3 after extra time in the quarterfinals, taking a 3-0 lead before after only 35 minutes before Nigeria fought back bravely in the second half to restore parity. The South Americans found the winner in the 104th minute of play.
The second meeting at the Beijing 2008 Olympics was not as close. Nigeria took the lead courtesy of a perpetual Nkwocha penalty, but forward Cristiane smashed a brilliant hat-trick for Brazil to condemn the Falcons to a 3-1 defeat.
Randy Waldrum’s team, who return to the Olympics after 16 years and had been labelled the group’s underdogs, hope to win their first win against the Brazilians when both sides meet today.
They, however, face a daunting task against Arthur Elias’ ladies who arrived at the Olympics in top spirits after winning 10 out of their last 15 games since the coach took over from Pia Sundhage in September 2023.
Speaking ahead of their opener, Nigeria midfielder Christy Ucheibe said the Falcons were going to the Olympics to compete.
“The training is good. The preparation is good. The spirit is high. Everyone is ready from the coaches, players, and staff, and everyone in camp is so happy and fighting so hard to prepare better for the Olympics,” said the Benfica player.
“No team is a pushover, so we are going there to compete, and I know we are going to do more than we did at the last World Cup.”
Brazil forward Adriana also noted that the opening game against the Falcons would be crucial for their campaign.
“This first game is crucial. In fact, it will always be like this. In any case, we need to concentrate and focus a lot on this debut. And take it step by step,” the forward told Sambafoot.
