Nigeria and Canada played out a goalless draw at Melbourne’s Rectangular Stadium on Friday, with heroics from Super Falcons goalkeeper, Chiamaka Nnadozie, who saved a penalty from Christine Sinclair, to deadlock the game at 0-0 and keep tears off the faces of finicky fans at home.
Christine Sinclair’s saved penalty sees Canada and Nigeria share spoils to give Women’s World Cup co-hosts Australia an early lead in Group B, with two points clear at the top of Group B after beating Ireland on Thursday.
Despite a late red card issued to Nigeria’s Deborah Abiodun, the Canadians were unable to take the late advantage despite controlling a large proportion of possession in the game.
The biggest chance of the match came on the penalty kick that was saved by Chiamaka Nnadozie, the Daily Mail reports.
According to GOAL, the Olympic champions, Canada, started well, with Sinclair, the all-time top goal-scorer in international football, curling an effort not far off target from the edge of the box while defender Kadeisha Buchanan saw a shot in the box thwarted by a vital block after she came forward for a corner.
But Nigeria in their traditional mould, grew into the match as the first half went on, with Canada goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan producing a smart stop to deny Ifeoma Onumonu as she tried her luck from around 20 yards. There was a not-so-smart moment from the shot-stopper before the break, though, as she misjudged a ball over the top to Asisat Oshoala and left Nigeria with an open goal to aim at, only for Ashley Lawrence to save her blushes by intercepting the Barcelona striker’s cut-back to Francisca Ordega at the perfect moment.
At the resumption of the second half, Canada had the perfect chance to take the lead in what was proving to be a tricky encounter but, after being brought down in the area by Ordega, the usually reliable Sinclair stuttered from the penalty spot as Chiamaka Nnadozie’s strong hand denied the forward.
Moments after coming onto the pitch in the second half, Canada substitute Evelyne Viens had a chance to test Nnadozie in the box but stabbed her effort right at the goalkeeper as the chances dried up for both sides.
With a late red card for Deborah Abiodun aside, after a poor tackle on Lawrence, the game petered out from there in rather uneventful fashion to end in a goalless draw.
At the end of Nigeria and Canada’s goalless match, the scoreline win probability was Nigeria 2%, Draw 91%, and Canada 7%.
A detailed match statistics analysis for Nigeria showed: Shots 11, Shots on target 1, Possession 32%, Passes 213, Pass accuracy 54%, Fouls 16, Yellow cards 1, Red cards 1, Offsides 1, and Corners 6.
While Canada’s revealed: Shots 16, Shots on target 3, Possession 68%, Passes 450, Pass accuracy 80%, Fouls 6, Yellow cards, 2, Red cards 0, Offsides 1, and Corners 7.
All four teams in Group B are now even with one point each applying an increased amount of pressure for each team’s next contest.
