Oshoala shines as Nigeria beat Haiti in Pre-World Cup tie

Asisat Oshoala returned to the Super Falcons side in style, scoring as Nigeria beat Haiti 2-1 in a World Cup warm-up game on Friday. 

The Barcelona Femeni star has been absent from the team since the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) in July 2022 but made an instant impact on her return to Coach Randy Waldrum’s side.

While the Super Falcons dominated play in the early parts of the game, they failed to breach the Haitian defence. The Nigerian team applied further pressure on their opponents and got a free-kick but had the Haitians clear it for a corner.

Oshoala was to profit from the resultant kick as she scored from close range but the goal was ruled off for offside.

But in the 40th minute, Esther Okoronkwo finally scored from an edge-of-the-box free kick to hand Nigeria the lead.

Eighteen minutes later, Oshoala doubled Nigeria’s tally after a goalmouth scramble.

The CONCACAF campaigners pulled one back in the 75th minute, after a mixup in the Nigerian defence.

Nigeria’s next World Cup warm-up match will be on Tuesday against tournament co-host New Zealand at the Mardan Stadyumu in Antalya, Turkey.

The 2023 Women’s World Cup will run between July 20 and August 20 in Australia and New Zealand.