/ 24 June 1999

NIGERIAN WOMEN TAKE ON US

NIGERIA’S national female football team, the Falcons, fresh from its 2-1 win over North Korea in the current Women’s World Cup, is set to take on the US team Thursday at Chicago’s Soldier’s Field stadium. The Falcons, who had a two-week training tour of the US before the competition began on 19 June, have improved tremendously. Observers say that the string of victories, which the team enjoyed in the run up to the competition, particularly the 4-3 defeat of the highly rated Chinese team, has boosted the morale of the players. Besides, there is the feeling that most of the women, who have been to two previous world cups, feel they have to showcase their experience as well as use the opportunity of the competition to market themselves.