FIFA Women’s World Cup: Canada starts off with goalless draw against Nigeria

Canada was left looking for positives Friday in the wake of a scoreless draw with Nigeria in its opening match at the FIFA Women's World Cup.

Canada was left looking for positives Friday in the wake of a scoreless draw with Nigeria in its opening match at the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Coach Bev Priestman and her players found some. But it had a feel of trying to make lemonade out of lemons, especially given captain Christine Sinclair’s saved penalty in the 50th minute.

The seventh-ranked Canadians outshot No. 40 Nigeria 15-10 (3-1 in shots on target) and dominated possession in the early going, creating chances that they could not convert.

“It feels like we dropped points,” said Canadian goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan. “It feels like we lost. I think we wanted more from ourselves.”

“But ultimately there was a lot of good things that we’re going to want to take away. We have an incredible team so I know we’ll bounce back really hard.”

With Ireland up next, Priestman wanted her team to look forward not back.

“Of course the team and I are devastated we didn’t get three points. But at the end of the day, we got one (point) and we took two from another team,” she added.

The Nigerians hunkered down and relied on a physical defence as the Canadians took it to them early. But the Super Falcons settled as the first half wore on and began asking questions of Olympic champion Canada.