Nigeria coach Randy Waldrum insists the Matildas nonetheless have “weapons” that may harm his facet at Suncorp Stadium on Thursday evening regardless of the Australians’ rising harm woes in assault.
Already with out captain and star striker Sam Kerr (calf), the Matildas have now additionally misplaced younger gun Mary Fowler, who has been dominated out of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Group B battle in Brisbane after being concussed at a behind-closed-doors coaching session on Tuesday.
The versatile Aivi Luik will even miss Thursday’s match after additionally falling sufferer to concussion on the similar coaching session, whereas attacker Kyah Simon was injured coming into the World Cup, and gained’t play both.
“We never like to see players injured and I know how devastating that is missing matches, but I don’t think it really changes our tactics and what we’re trying to do,” Nigeria’s American coach Waldrum stated.
“They obviously still have a lot of weapons that can hurt you. For them, maybe it might be somewhat of a challenge but for us, we know the strength of their team.
“I know a lot of the (Australian) players really well from playing back in the (American) NWSL.
“I know the quality of those players, so we can’t go into the match thinking we’re at some advantage for that reason.
“We have to stick to the game plan and the way we’ve been preparing for them since after the Canada match.”
The Nigerians drew 0-0 with the Canadians final Friday in Melbourne lower than 24 hours after Australia’s first-up 1-0 win over Ireland in Sydney.
Waldrum was a eager observer of the Matildas’ victory over the Irish, who pushed the Australians in a bodily affair.
“This group is just so difficult. On a given day anybody can make anything happen,” Waldrum stated.
“I wasn’t surprised with the way the match went.
“We would hope we can make it difficult on Australia. We would hope we could cause those problems as well.
“Anything they want to give to us, I’ll take it right. If they want to be nervous, we’ll take it. If they want to fold under pressure, we’ll take it.
“Every World Cup, the host nation carries a little bit of an extra burden, but I would expect them to be completely settled now and firing on all cylinders when we play them.”
The Matildas will assure themselves a spot within the spherical of 16 with a sport to spare by beating Nigeria.
Source: www.news.com.au
