Nigeria and Cameroon Shine as African Sides Spark Women's World Cup to Life

Going into the third day of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, African football was under the spotlight. After Ivory Coast emphatically lost 10-0 to Germany, it was the turn of Nigeria and Cameroon to fly the flag for their continent and show the strides football has made in their region. They didn’t disappoint.

The Super Falcons of Nigeria made an ominous start. Two set pieces from Sweden ended in Edwin Okon’s side going down 2-0 after 31 minutes. Despite their inability to deal with the Scandinavian side’s corner kicks, Nigeria showed enough going forward to cause Sweden problems.

Pia Sundhage set up her side playing 4-4-2 and it was obvious early on that there would be space in behind the full-backs for Nigeria to exploit.

All over the pitch, the African side were faster, stronger and showed more desire to play a direct style. Liverpool’s Asisat Oshoala was a threat from the right. Rather than stick out wide, she was constantly joining the attack and playing more as a forward than a midfielder.

Their 4-4-2 looked more like 4-2-4 with Oshoala on the right and Ngozi Okobi on the left. They used their pace and movement to find gaps in the Sweden defence.

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With only five minutes of the second half gone, Nigeria were rewarded for their positive play. Centre-forward Desire Oparanozie made a run wide-right and played in an excellent low cross into the middle. Okobi, pushing in from the left with her first touch left Nilla Fischer—one of the most respected defenders in the game—finished beautifully with her right foot.

Only minutes later, Okobi—easily the Player of the Game—turned provider. The powerful runs from Oshoala had caused constant problems to the back four, and this time she was picked out perfectly by Okobi. One on one with goalie Hedvig Lindahl, the Under-20 star announced herself to the World Cup with a calm low finish.

Sweden did take the lead again. It was their best move of the match and showed what they are capable of when it all clicks. However, it didn’t stop Nigeria pushing forward for an equaliser. Okobi picked up her second assist of the game, similar to the first, her ball in behind the Sweden defence sending Francisca Ordega clear and the 21-year-old slotted it beyond Lindahl.

The 3-3 draw was the very least that Nigeria deserved. Sweden has struggled to show why they are one of the dark horses for the tournament and failed to impress in their attacking options from the opening of play. Nigeria could have won the game considering they out-muscled, had more heart and with a touch more class, patience and quality in the final third than Sweden.

Group D was already thought of as the Group of Death, with USA, Sweden and Australia all ranked within the Top 10 in the world. Add Nigeria to the mix, who finished runners-up at the Under-20 World Cup last summer, and you have a team that has nothing to fear in this section.

Australia started well against the USA, but faded in the second period under the physical battle of the American side. Nigeria will be able to match both teams in that aspect and should be confident they can advance through the group, at least as one of the third-place teams.

If Nigeria’s exploits were not enough to restore faith in the state of African football, Cameroon put the exclamation point on an excellent day when they destroyed Ecuador 6-0 in Vancouver. In their very first game at a Women’s World Cup, they exceeded expectations.

They will face tougher challenges in this group—both Japan and Switzerland impressed in their opening game—but take nothing away from the Lionesses. They, like Nigeria, showed no fear.

Gaelle Enganamouit was picked as one of the 50 top players at this World Cup here on Bleacher Report, and she backed that up by scoring a hat-trick on Monday, including the first scored by an African women’s player in any Women’s World Cup.

Placed in a group with Japan and Switzerland, it was also going to be tough for Enow Ngachu’s team to put down a marker to the two favourites. In qualifying for the tournament, the Lionesses needed extra-time to beat Ivory Coast 2-1 in the African championships—making it hard to judge what they would be capable of in light of Germany’s substantial victory.

“We scored six goals in our first-ever Women’s World Cup match—it couldn’t really have gone any better,” Ngachu told FIFA.com after the game. “We’re quite happy, because we’ve made history today. In our next match against Japan, things will be very different, because they’re the best team in the world.”

Cameroon’s open and fearless style was too much for Ecuador, and if they play with the same belief, it will cause problems for Japan and Switzerland too. The early three points puts them in a great position to advance into the last 16.

Ivory Coast showed that nothing will stop the African fans from dancing during this tournament, but Tuesday showed that it’s not just their enthusiasm, but also their football ability, which is more than worthy of a place with the world’s best.