Asisat Oshoala has had a pretty spectacular 12 months
by anyone’ s standards.
The Ikorodu , Lagos, native took home both the Adidas
Golden Ball and the Golden Boot at the FIFA U -20
Women’ s World Cup Canada 2014 en route to a second -
place finish with the Super Falconets in August of last
year , while just last week she scored in her senior
Women’ s World Cup debut.
In between those feats , ‘ Superzee’ , as she is known by
her team-mates, signed for Liverpool and earned the
BBC ’ s Women’ s Footballer of the Year Award, while
also picking up the CAF young and senior player prizes.
Add in becoming a Member of the Order of the Niger
( MON ) , an honour bestowed upon the 20 -year - old by
her nation’s president and it would be safe to assume
that Oshoala is content with how things are going at
the moment !
And you would be wrong . Despite all of the accolades
she has recently earned and the attention she has
received from all corners of the planet, Nigeria’ s No . 8
has been finding it difficult to enjoy herself during her
first Women’ s World Cup so far. That is not to say
Canada 2015 has yet to be a worthwhile experience for
the young starlet , though.
“ I have learned a lot of things about myself as a
player , ” Oshoala told FIFA. com after her team’ s 2-0
loss to Australia. At times during the U -20 Women’ s
World Cup last summer it seemed almost impossibly
easy for Oshoala to find the back of the net . But as
the young starlet quickly pointed out , that is simply not
the case at Canada 2015 .
“ This is a big tournament with much stronger
competition. When you play at the under- age
tournament, and then you come to the senior World
Cup, you see it ’ s much harder . So , you just have to
adapt to it . My style of play can ’ t always be the same .
I need to find different ways to change my attacking
patterns so I can get behind the backline. ”
That is a lesson Oshoala duly learned after the Super
Falcons ’ loss to Australia, where she and her fellow
forwards rarely threatened the Matildas ’ goal. After a
wildly entertaining 3-3 draw where Oshoala scored
Nigeria’ s second and presented herself as a constant
threat to Sweden , the No . 8 found herself frustrated
against Australia.
“ I would say Sweden actually made it very hard for us , ”
explained Oshoala. “ Australia, I think , were an easier
opponent . We were unlucky not to get the goals we
needed . But it doesn ’ t matter ; we have to be better , no
matter what . ”
If coach Edwin Okon can get his front three – Oshoala
is usually featured up top alongside the talents of
Desire Oparanozie and Ngozi Okobi – firing on all
cylinders in time for today ’ s big test against a tough
USA side , the Super Falcons may just be able to soar
into the knockout stages , something Nigeria have only
done once before , at USA 1999 .
Oshoala believes she and her team-mates have what it
takes to reach the Round of 16 , and as she explains
with a smile on her face she would like to emulate the
style of a certain attacking trio known the world over .
“ I want us to play like Real Madrid’ s forwards !” Oshoala
says through her laughter . They ’ re very, very good ,
Benzema , Ronaldo and Gareth Bale. We can be similar
to them and I ’d like us to play just like them as much
as possible . As a front three we can be very dangerous
and if we try to be like them, we ’ll go very far in this
tournament!”
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