Super Falcons moves Brisbane on Monday but not among trophy favourites to win trophy

Nigeria’s senior women football team, the Super Falcons will Monday depart for Brisbane ahead of their July 21, 2023 first group match against Canada billed for Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne by 3:30 am Nigerian time.

According to Promptnews the Super Falcons will depart to  Brisbane their  FIFA venue, a distance of one hour by road from Gold Coast and will nestle at Sofitel Hotel Central, Brisbane.

All 23 players, coaching crew, backroom staff and accompanying officials of the Nigeria Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) will travel to Team Nigeria’s FIFA hotel.Sunday’s departure leaves Super Falcons with five clear days before they take on the reigning Olympic champions, Canada in the first Group B cracker which will set the tone for both countries in the competition.

Team Head Coach Randy Waldrum expressed his joy how the week-long training camp in Gold Coast after criticising NFF for arranging the camp.

Super Falcons had for the past 10 days set up training  camp at Mercure Resorts, Gold Coast City, Brisbane with initial 20 players including a handful who left from Abuja, Nigeria. The field was later completed when Russia-based Francisca Ordega and veteran midfielder Halimat Ayinde who plays for Rosengard FF in Sweden joined the camp.

To wrap up the camp, Nigeria played a test-match against a local women’s football club Lions FC on Saturday  thrashing the hapless Lions 8-1 with FC Barcelona feminine star, Asisat Lamina Oshoala and Rasheedat Ajibade of Athletico Madrid women’s team scoring two goals each.

Meanwhile, United States is bookmaker favoutites to win the trophy.

They are the current world champions after winning the last World Cup in France 2019 and 2015 back-to-back. At the same time, they are the team with the most world titles (four). Its squad includes stars such as Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and Rose Lavelle, making them the strongest team to beat.

England is second favorite to win the World Cup according to the betting . Although the 'Three Lions' have never won this tournament, they are on a roll after winning the last European Championship in 2022. In addition, this year they won the Finalissima against Brazil, that is, two titles of maximum prestige to gain the necessary confidence to compete for the tournament title.

Third is Spain. After more than a year of controversy, with the resignation of 15 players, including important names, Jorge Vilda seems to have redirected the situation. Also in the team is two-time Ballon d'Or winner Alexia Putellas, who after her injury in the build-up to Euro 2022, seems to have recovered.

In qualifying, Spain finished 1st in Group B with a clean sweep of wins against Scotland, Ukraine, Hungary and the Faroe Islands. They are currently ranked number six in the FIFA ranking.

The next in the betting is Germany, second in the FIFA ranking and finalist of the last European Championship, although they are not going through their best moment. They have not won a title for ten years and the pressure to lift a title again is strong. With eight European Championships and two World Cups to their name, the Germans will be counting on an experienced squad to try to upset the strongest teams. The Falcons are outsiders.