Nigeria proves it belongs in 'Group of Death' after 3-3 draw with Sweden
Nigeria just put the aptly named “Group of Death” on notice by asserting itself as a contender to win the group.
The Nigerians came from behind twice to earn an unexpected 3-3 draw against Sweden and placed itself in contention to move on to the knockout rounds.
The match, which was the first in Group D on Monday, was one of the most entertaining of the FIFA Women’s World Cup so far. The pace was frenetic as both teams had numerous scoring chances from the opening kick. However, Sweden was able to take advantage of Nigeria’s defensive miscues on corner kicks.
Sweden’s first goal knocked off forward Desire Oparanozie, who was trying to control the ball out of the air. On the second goal, Nigeria was unable to clear the ball and it resulted in an easy tap in for defender Nilla Fischer.
But then Nigeria started doing what it does best — running.
The speed of Nigeria all over the field put pressure on Sweden and started to wear it down early in the second half. That gave Nigeria an opportunity to crawl back in the game and it did so with goals at the 50 and 53-minute marks.
Sweden took back the lead after Linda Sembrant found herself open to deflect a pass off her side, but Nigeria didn’t relent. It continued to pressure a fatigued Sweden team, that spent much of the second half stretching and grabbing sips of water during throw in and free kicks. That persistence paid off in the 87th minute when Ngozi Okobi played a beautiful through ball to a streaking Francisca Oredega, who slotted the ball past goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl for the game-tying score.
When the “Group of Death” was announced, Nigeria was an afterthought. After all, the group sported three teams ranked in the top 10 of FIFA’s world rankings and Nigeria was a paltry 33rd. Nigeria has only won three games in six prior Women’s World Cup appearances and only once has it gotten out of the group stage (1999).
Still, this Nigeria team is different. It dominated the African Championship, winning all five of its games and scoring 16 goals while allowing just three. Several of its current players have been groomed on the younger national teams and many were on the U-20 team that finished second to Germany in the 2010 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
The tie means Group D is definitely in contention to secure one of the four third-place spots for the knockout rounds. It also means an opportunity for the United States, the favorite of the group, to jump to the head of the pack with a win against Australia in the late Group D game. And the U.S. is going to need a lot of early points, especially now that the supposed gimme game against Nigeria in the final contest of group play is shaping up to be a more daunting task.
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Follow Graham Watson on Twitter @Yahoo_Graham
