CAF Women’s Footballer of the Year, Asisat Oshoala believed the Super Falcons can build on their consecutive wins over Costa Rica and Haiti when they slug it out with New Zealand today in Antalya, Turkey.
Oshoala ended her goals drought for the women’s national team in the 2-1 win over Haiti last Friday and the Barcelona striker insisted that Nigeria must go into the World Cup with their sights on competing better than they did in the past.
“I think I feel happy, the team is progressing as we are all trying to work towards the World Cup. The team is still coming up, the building process is continuous, we’ll keep working hard until it becomes a reality,” She said.
Speaking in the same vein, defender Ashleigh Plumptre has insisted the Super Falcons would proceed to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup without pressure knowing that Australia and Canada are rated above them to qualify from the group.
The Leicester City defender who made this statement while speaking on a short video posted on NFF TV said they have a lot of talented players in the squad and they are capable of causing upset in the competition.
”I think right now we’re just in a really good position just preparing as we are, here in Turkey,” Plumptre stated. “We’ve got our eyes set on the summer but right now we’re trying to just put little details into practice and make sure that come the summer the team is ready to perform.
“Yeah we know we’re obviously against really good competition, we definitely can’t look past that.
“Pressure is on the likes of Canada and Australia and I know we have some amazing talent in this team, so we’re going to put in some good performances and I think we can cause some couple of upsets”, she added.
The Falcons defender also gave an update on the knock she’s recovering from that stopped her from playing against Haiti last Friday.
She also expressed her delight with the Falcons’ back to back win against Costa Rica and Haiti adding that they must sustain the momentum if they are to has to the World Cup in good form.
“I think we are picking up momentum now with the results and i don’t want to start with the actual performances because the ultimate is to get a win.
“We need to come together as a team.
“I just got a knock and I am just trying to take care of it. I’m yet to be certified by the doctors and physiotherapists. I am in a good place now,” she added.