Nigeria Women and Canada Women will begin their respective 2023 Women’s World Cup campaigns when they lock horns at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium in the early hours of Friday morning (03.30).

Both teams have established history at this level – Nigeria have attended all nine World Cup finals, while Canada have appeared at every tournament since missing the inaugural edition in 1991.

The Super Falcons have only ever managed to win four of 26 World Cup matches, with two of these victories coming in 1999 en route to the quarter-finals and will be hoping for a better display this time around.

Meanwhile, having won Olympic Gold two summers ago, Canada are now dreaming of a maiden World Cup title, however, following recent friendly defeats against Brazil, USA, Japan and France, they’re not coming into this competition in the best vein of form.

Team News

Nigeria centre-back Onome Ebi is expected to appear at her sixth World Cup.

After scoring 27 competitive goals for Barcelona last season, Asisat Oshoala will be hoping to carry her club form into the World Cup.

As for Canada, Christine Sinclair is also set to appear at a sixth different World Cup, winning her 324th international cap for the national side.

Julia Grosso, who was in the squad for the 2019 World Cup but didn’t see any action, could be a breakout star of for Canada this summer, having shone for Juventus last season.

Canada to win and both teams to score @ 5/2

As mentioned, Canada head into the tournament off the back of a poor run of results that has seen them lose four of their last five games.

However, all four of those defeats took place against nations ranked 11th or higher, and we think that Canada have the quality required to edge out Nigeria in Friday’s encounter.

That being said, Canada seem to have some defensive frailties that can be exposed, particularly by a striker as clinical as Asisat Oshoala.

Christine Sinclair to score anytime @ 7/5

Sinclair is Canada’s highest scorer in history, with 190 goals for the national team.

Last season, she scored five goals in 14 games for Portland Thorns, while this season she has one goal in three games for the NWSL side.

Canada’s captain has yet to score for the national team this year after appearing in four games without netting a goal, so I think she could be due a goal here.