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00:16The Superfocus of Nigeria will on Wednesday take on Canada. The Running Women Olympic
00:22Champions in a friendly match in a club store are trading match in Serbia, Spain.
00:28Both teams are gearing up for this month's Olympic Games, which starts in about two weeks.
00:34The Superfocus of Nigeria last played Canada at the last Women's World Cup,
00:39where both teams played a goalless draw. Coach Randy Wardron has been talking about
00:46the upcoming friendly match between the two teams who are gearing up for the Global Master
00:52Trophies. Let's listen to Randy Wardron and what he says about the extreme preparation and
00:58what the friendly match would bring to the team's preparation.
01:22Now looking at the mentality of the new breed, have they adapted enough to a point where you
01:47have confidence in them? I think so. The good thing about building a national team is you've
01:54got older players that have experience. You always want to have some younger players coming up to be
02:01ready. And then you need that core group that's kind of in between in that age. And right now,
02:06we've got a good blend of some experience on the team, some young players that have come in that
02:12we think are going to have a great future with the senior team. And then we've kind of got that
02:16stable of just those core players that's been with us a while. Yeah, we lost two key players.
02:20Yes. How much of a difference would that have on these players? Yeah, no, listen, when you lose
02:29Ashley Plumter and Halamatu Ayinde, they're two world-class players. And, you know, it's hard for
02:37any team to lose quality like that, especially two of them, you know. But the thing we've preached to
02:43our players all along is somebody else has to just step up and replace them. And I think we saw
02:49that with Okeke coming in, Chidamma coming in to left back for Ashley when she was out against
02:55Cameroon and South Africa. And, you know, I think right now, the good thing is we've got some depth
03:03in midfield with players like Christy Uchibi in there and Debbie Abi-Oden and Tony Payne. It's
03:10still a good, solid, strong midfield. We've got other players. Echigine can play in there. Rash
03:17Ashabadi could play in there if we need. So even though we lose a good player, we've got some depth
03:22in there. It's just you'd certainly like to play in an Olympic. Well, looking at the environment
03:26where you're camped, is it really good for the team? Is it the kind of place you really want for
03:32the team? This camp? Yeah. This setting? Yeah, it's secluded. It's private. We can focus. And it's nice
03:39to be here because it's private. It's been a great, great setup for us. Yeah, this is the
03:45way you need to do a camp before a big competition. On the last note, ahead of tomorrow's tactical
03:52friendly game. Right. How do you see the girls performing? Well, I expect it's a quality
03:57Canada side. Yeah. I mean, they're defending Olympic gold medalists and, you know, playing
04:02them in Australia. We know we're up against a good side, but it'll be a good measuring stick
04:06for us. I think we'll get we'll try to get two things out of it is one. Every time we step on
04:12the field, we want to win. We want to keep that momentum going. You know, you want to get a result,
04:17but we also have to be careful. We have a few players that are coming back from injury from
04:21their club seasons and we'll have to manage their time. So we'll play some players that
04:26to give them an opportunity to see what they can do for us in the Olympics.
04:30So I wouldn't bank everything on the result. But I think more based, you know, we'll be looking at
04:36as a staff between Ibo, Kyle and myself, we'll be looking at it more from a standpoint of,
04:42you know, how they performed, not the result will take care of itself. But we're really
04:47looking to see if what we've been working on, you know, translates into the performance tomorrow.
04:52But I expect it just to be good if what we've been working on, you know, translates into the
04:56performance tomorrow. But I expect it just to be good. And the last one, have you scouted your
05:03opponents enough? Has Kyle and I? Have we scouted our opponents enough ahead of the Olympics?
05:09I think we are. I think we're confident. I think, you know, I think the players are ready. They're
05:15up for it. I think they, you know, it's a very difficult group, as we know, but I think they
05:19embrace the challenge. I think they want to play those teams.
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