Ireland vs Nigeria Prediction and Preview

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Ireland vs Nigeria Prediction and Preview

Nigeria women will be looking to book a place in the Women’s World Cup knockout stages when they take on Ireland women on Monday at the Suncorp Stadium. Unlike their opponents, Ireland have already been knocked out of the tournament, but will be eager to see their campaign end with a victory.

Match Preview

After losing their first two games, Ireland began their tournament with a 1-0 win over co-hosted Australia before facing Olympic champions Canada on Thursday.

After a dream start for the Irish, Katie McCabe scored from a corner in the 14th minute, but Canada equalized eight minutes later thanks to an unfortunate own-goal by Megan Connolly. Ireland went into half-time trailing 1-0, but Canada held on to win 2-1 and inflict a fifth loss in six matches to go out of the tournament.

Nigeria have been living the dream so far in the tournament, taking four points in their first two games against Canada (0-0) and Australia (3-2). The Super Falcons showed their defensive tenacity to keep Canada to a 0-0 draw, before displaying their attacking capabilities in Thursday’s clash with Australia. Randy Waldrum’s team fought back from 1-0 down to take a 3-1 lead at half-time, Later on, Winning the game 3-2 thanks to goals from Elisha Kanu , Osinachi Olongale and Oshoala . Alanna Kennedy, a Manchester City defender, halved the lead in stoppage time but Nigeria held on to take all three points to move top of their group by goal difference. They will progress to the knockout stage if they avoid defeat, but a loss would mean they would have to rely on the results of the other match in the group from Canada and Australia.

Ireland vs Nigeria head-to-head

This is the first time the two teams will face each other. Ireland have only won one out of their seven matches this year (5 defeats) while Nigeria have won four out of five World Cup matches where they scored the first goal. Nigeria are looking to make it three times in a row and qualify for the knockout rounds of the World Cup. Ireland has only scored two goals in its last seven matches.

Prediction: Ireland vs Nigeria

Nigeria have defied all pre-tournament hiccups and controversies to produce one of the best performances in World Cup history. With a morale-boosting win over Australia, they are now on the brink of qualifying for the knockouts for the second time in three tournaments.

While Ireland may have been eliminated, Vera Pauw’s team can be proud of their performance. The girls in green will look to end the tournament on a high by getting their first points of the tournament.

But their lack of quality in attack could prove to be costly against a determined Nigerian defense. We are going for a draw 1-1

Predicted result: Nigeria vs Ireland 1-1

Ireland Women probable starting lineup:
Brosnan; Fahey, Lo. Quinn, Connolly; O’Gorman, O’Sullivan, Littlejohn, McCabe; Sheva, Carusa, Farrelly

Nigeria Women probable starting lineup:
Nnadozie; Alozie, Ohale, Demehin, Plumptre; Ucheibe, Abiodun; Ajibade, Payne, Oshoala; Onumonu

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