[FILES] Nigeria’s forward Asisat Oshoala .<br />AFP PHOTO/ANDY CLARK
Super Falcons’ striker, Asisat Oshoala doesn’t see anything special about Nigeria’s three group opponents in the fast approaching FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.
The Falcons will battle with hosts France, Korea Republic and Norway when hostilities begin in June, and Oshoala says there is nothing to worry about.
“I told my team-mates that no-one that has qualified for the World Cup is a pushover. They are among the champions of their own continents. It is champions against champions. The group is open but it is very high quality,” Oshoala told FIFA.com.
She revealed that Coach Thomas Dennerby has enough time to assemble a formidable team before the tournament kicks off in France. “It has not been easy for him, not having us together for a while,” Oshoala admitted.
“Now he has had the chance to take charge of us at a tournament, see what young players are ready to make the step up, I think he has enough time to get us ready.”
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With a bronze medal already resting on his mantelpiece, having led his native Sweden to the podium in 2011, Dennerby’s know-how is seen as invaluable by the team’s star forward.
“He has World Cup experience, he’s taken charge of plenty of big teams and tactically he knows the game at the top level – and the World Cup is the very best.”
Oshoale, a three-time CAF African Women’s Player of the Year award winner is getting into gear in the best possible way – joining Barcelona on loan from Chinese champions, Dalian Quanjian.
“The team has not been together properly for about two years, which has made things more difficult because we hadn’t had many proper sessions, we were just together for about two weeks prior to the 2018 African Women Nations Cup and it was pretty difficult,” she explained to FIFA.com.
“Our goal at the start was to qualify for the World Cup but we ended up winning it in the end. This has given us a lot of confidence going into the World Cup, ahead of our friendly games and for the team to perform better.”
Speaking further, Oshoala said: “I think African teams are really getting better. The last Cup of Nations was of real quality. Teams have buckled up, prepared hard, trained hard and it was pretty difficult.”
Now back on European soil, Oshoala will be hoping to only enhance that eye for goal in Spain’s Liga Femenina and the upcoming Cyprus Cup, so she can hit the ground running just like she did against Sweden four years ago.
