Nigeria’s and Washington Spirit star, Francisca Ordega, has assured Nigerians that the Super Falcons will survive the American scare and qualify for the next round at the ongoing Canada 2015 Women World Cup.
Ordega, who is expected to make the Super Falcons starting line-up against the Americans in the early hours of Tuesday, said: “It’s not easy. Everyone was like, ‘Oh, Nigeria is in the Group of Death.’ But for me, it’s not a group of death; it’s a group of survival.”
To survive, Nigeria will have to tighten a defence that has conceded five goals and displayed an inability to defend set pieces.
But Nigeria’s swift, ambitious attack poses an unpredictable threat, one that helped the Super Falcons recover from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits in forging a 3-3 draw with heavily favoured Sweden in Winnipeg.
Ordega’s goal came in the 87th minute.
With teammate Ngozi Okobi in possession, Ordega made a stealth central run and gathered the through ball in stride to steer a low shot past the goalkeeper.
Ordega has a wealth of international experience.
In 2010, she scored three goals in four games at the Under-17 World Cup.
At age 17, she made two substitute appearances during the 2011 World Cup in Germany.
A year later at the U-20 World Cup, she recorded a hat trick against Italy and finished with four goals.
She has recorded seven goals in 25 international matches
The Americans have won all four meetings with Nigeria, three in group stages of the World Cup.
During the 1999 championship run, the US team yielded the opening goal and then scored seven in a row.
In 2003, the margin was 5-0.
Four years later, it was 1-0.
The other encounter was at the 2000 Olympics, a 3-1 outcome.