Falcons look set to face England in World Cup Round of 16 after barren draw with Ireland

NIGERIA'S Super Falcons look set to face England in the Round of 16 in the ongoing Women's World Cup after they qualified for the knockout stages of the tournament this morning following a 0-0 draw with Ireland in their final group game.

After a goalless draw with Canada in their opening match and a dramatic 3-2 won over co-hosts Australia in the their second game, the Falcons only needed a point today to qualify. In a rather drab game at the Brisbane Stadium, the Falcons played it cagey, eking out a barren draw, knowing that this would be enough to see them through.

With today's point, the Falcons ended the group stage with five points finishing Group B as runners-up behind Australia who have six points. They will now face the winners of Group D who are likely to be England, although this will be confirmed tomorrow after they play their final group game against China and the two other teams in the group, Denmark and Haiti face each other.

Each team’s best chance to score in the first half came within the first 15 minutes from their respective star players. Ireland’s Katie McCabe was just off target with a left-foot shot in the 5th minute and Asisat Oshoala could not convert a golden chance that came nine minutes later when she was through with just the goalkeeper at her mercy.

After a relatively quiet first half, the Falcons picked up the intensity in hopes of scoring the goal that would move the them to the top of the group at the restart.  A diving save from Irish goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan in the 52nd minute kept the game goalless and secured Ireland’s first point in its debut appearance at the tournament.

Thanks to her acrobatics, Nigeria were kept out after Toni Payne found the head of Uchenna Kanu and she headed on target. After that, neither team really threatened and the two sides played the rest of the game as if they were both satisfied with a point.

Nigeria’s run is all the more surprising given the turmoil surrounding the team prior to the tournament, however, the Falcons were able to put an ongoing pay dispute behind them and qualify for the knockout stage for the third time in their history. In the other Group B match, Australia beat Olympic champions Canada 4-0 in Melbourne, to top the group.