Guingamp Ladies of France striker, Desire Oparanozie has thanked Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for giving their female national team, Super Falcons what she says is their best preparations ever, megasportsarena.com reports.
Oparanozie, who has been named Falcons’ captain for this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in the country where she plies her soccer trade, said she is happy with their pre-competition training base in Austria.
Before now, the team had also played two friendlies in Spain, after attending invitational competitions in China and Cyprus, all of which makes Oparanozie ecstatic with the first of its kind build-up outlined by the NFF for any other of the country’s various national teams.
This comes after the Falcons won a record ninth African Women’s Cup of Nations title in Ghana last year, and qualified for their eighth successive appearance at the Female Mundial, ahead of which Oparanozie says they have the right foundation to go further than Nigeria’s best efforts ever.
It was at USA ’99 that the Falcons reached the quarter-finals of the Mundial for the first and only time so far, losing eventually by a golden goal against Brazil, but Oparanozie says the present squad has been overly encouraged by the NFF to rewrite history come June/July.
The nine-time African champions have failed to advance from the group stage in their last four global campaigns, but Oparanozie says they will hold their own in Group A, against the hosts France, 1995 champions Norway and fast-rising South Korea, then go even further.
The team is currently camped in Austria and will arrive in Reims on June 4, before their tournament opener against Norway on June 8, ahead of which Oparanozie says the Falcons have enough quality and adequate preparation to challenge for glory this time.
Oparanozie told Sporting Life: “We have never had it this good in terms of preparations.
“Over the years, the truth is that we have not had good preparation before going to the World Cup, but this year, the story has changed.
“There are lots of things to be done better but the NFF has done really well to prepare us for the World Cup.
“To whom much is given, much is expected. I know Nigerians are hopefully looking up to us.
“Everyone thinks we have dominated football in Africa for a long time and it is time we make a statement at the Women’s World Cup.
“We have the quality and we have one of the best coaches in women’s football and I think this is the time to go past our previous record.”
