African champions, Nigeria have an interesting start to their preparations for the Eighth FIFA Women’s Cup finals as they tackle China’s women national team, nicknamed Steel Roses, in the FourNation China Tournament this evening.
Korea Republic and Romania, the other participating teams, will clash in the tournament’s opening match from 3.00 p.m. China time (8.00 am Nigeria time), before the Falcons and the Roses take the pitch at Huitang Stadium at 7.35 p.m. China time, which will be 12.35 p.m. in Nigeria.
Yesterday, between 4.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. China time (9.00 a.m. and 10.00 a.m. in Nigeria), the Falcons took to the Wu Hua Olympic Sports Centre of the Huitang Stadium for their first training session since arriving in China.
Swedenbased defender Faith Michael and midfielder Rita Chikwelu, as well as England -based forward Ini-Abasi Umotong and Portugalbased Chinaza Uchendu flew direct from Europe and joined the team in Meizhou City.
China’s Steel Roses is among the most respected teams in women football globally and will certainly afford the ninetime African champions a good match.
On its part, Nigeria’s Super Falcons is one of only seven teams to have qualified for every edition of the FIFA Women’s Cup finals since the competition was launched in China in 1991. The others are the women national teams of USA, Brazil, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Japan.
The winner of today’s encounter will clash with the winner of the Korea Republic/Romania fixture in Sunday’s final slated to kick off at 7.35 p.m. China time (12.35 p.m. Nigeria time). The losers play the third place match starting from 3.00 p.m. China time (8.00 a.m. Nigeria time) also on Sunday, and at the same Huitang Stadium.
Should the Falcons prevail over the Steel Roses and the Koreans subdue the Romanians, Sunday’s final would be an interesting preview of the FIFA Cup Group A clash between Nigeria and Korea Republic scheduled for Grenoble on June 12.
