Falcons not scared of US, Sweden – Ebi Super Falcons defender, Onome Ebi, has ruled out any form of fear when Nigeria face US, Sweden and Australia in the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada in June. Nigeria are in Group D with the trio, and are nursing the ambition of becoming the first African side to win the tournament. The best achievement the Falcons ever had was reaching the quarterfinals at the 1999 edition in USA when they lost to Brazil. The US, meanwhile, have won the World Cup twice, in 1991 and 1999, with their worst being a third-place finish. Sweden have also reached the final once, in 2003 when they lost by a lone goal to Germany in USA. The Minsk of Belarus defender, who was part of the Nigeria squad that won the 2014 African Women’s Championship in Equatorial Guinea, said Falcons’ feat could intimidate their opponents in Canada. “I don’t think we have anything to fear at the World Cup; we know the strength of our opponents because we’ve been there several times. But we don’t plan on being overconfident with our achievements,” Ebi told our correspondent. “You can’t underestimate our opponents, even Australia who have yet to go beyond the quarterfinals. They are top sides in world football, but Nigeria have grown because we now have a mixture of young and experienced players who have blended well. “The victory at the AWC will also boost our confidence. But our strength remains the understanding amongst the players and the technical ability of the coach.” Ebi called for early preparation ahead of the World Cup, saying quality friendlies would be paramount in their programme. She said, “ Friendly games will be the best way to prepare the team. It is left for the coach to decide if new faces will be introduced or not, but I believe we have a good team. We can get stronger with regular matches against top sides in Europe before the World Cup begins. “Nothing is impossible in football, we can end up winning the tournament for the first time. I’ll love that to happen.”
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 15:34:05 +0000
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