Because this is a Women’s World Cup year, I have decided to countdown to the tournament by providing a short soccer/fitness related preview of each of the 24 participating nations. In this instalment, I will look at Nigeria, who are making their 7th appearance at the Women’s World Cup (they have qualified for every tournament thus far). Nigeria have been drawn in Group D, along with Australia, Sweden, and the United States of America.  They will play their first match against Sweden on Monday, June 8th, 2015.

As the 7-time African Champions, Nigeria have dominated women’s soccer on their own continent for over two decades. Their strategy has been basically an all-out attack, and this year was no different as they scored 16 goals in 5 qualification matches and finished with the African tournament’s two top goal scorers, Desire Oparanozie and Asisat Oshoala .  Of course, they will be coming up against stronger competition this year, with the Asian runners-up Australia, European runners-up Sweden, and 2-time Women’s World Cup Champions the United States all in their group.  Can the excellent attacking skills of the Nigerian team overcome these tougher obstacles and get them out of what is generally regarded to be this tournament’s “group of death”?  We will have to wait and see what happens in 1 month’s time.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this topic.  Drop me a line here to get the conversation started.