Canada 0-0 Nigeria; Canada Draw 10-women Nigeria After Abiodun Red Card

Group B of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup seemingly is one of the toughest and tightest groups of the tournament with groups like Australia, Ireland, Canada and Nigeria competing for a spot in the round of 16.

Nigeria draw Canada 0-0 after missed penalty

The Group B resumed its play earlier in Melbourne with everyone in the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium expecting the Olympic gold medalist team, Canada to thrash Nigerian national team, which would be a first in the history of the World Cup.

However, the Nigerians were in no mood to let the Canadians have it their way to an easy victory. The Nigerians successfully held off the strong Canadian attack to make a resultant no goal 0-0 draw in the hopes of going ahead of the group stages for the third time ever in the history of the African nation.

From the moment of the first whistle the Nigerians bunkered into a low-block and invited the side of Beverly Priestman into breaking their solid wall of a defense down.

The Nigerians had no intention of making it easy for their Canadian counterparts however, as they bunkered into a low-block from the first whistle, inviting Canadian manger Beverly Priestman’s side to break them down.

Nigerian goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie wins Woman of the Match

Everyone expected the Canadians to gain a much-needed lead just minutes into the second half of the match after Christine Sinclair was tackled down inside the penalty area, awarding the North Americans with a penalty-kick after the referee has cross-checked with the VAR review.

To everybody’s shock, the attempt of the 40-year-old was completely spot saved by Nigeria’s safe hands between the post, Chiamaka Nnadozie, who managed to nullify Canada’s penalty and keep the game level with a cleansheet.

The game reached a heated point after Deborah Ajibola Abiodun from the Nigerian front was sent off from the field after being dismissed by a red card in the 90+8 minutes of the match, owing to her dangerous tackle on the Canadian Ashley Lawrence.

Canada fail to beat 10-women Nigerian squad

Nigeria’s boss Randy Waldrum’s side was left with a player down situation with a ten-women squad on pitch for the last minutes of the match.

However, despite all desperate attempts by Canada to own the three points, a ten-women Nigerian side managed to stubbornly hold out their defense for the rest of the match, not letting Canada to join the likes of Australian and New Zealand teams who won their opening matches.

The next faceoffs for Group B will resume the coming week with Nigeria going against Australia, while on the other hand, Canada faces Ireland.