He said, “It is not easy to play the world champions. You saw how the game went. We conceded a goal in the 85th minute; we created a lot of scoring chances. But I know the game is still on; we can still qualify for the next round if we can work harder than what happened today.

” Obviously, we are going to reach the next round of the tournament. The tournament is a very tight tournament; we have only two days as a recovery period for them to play the next match. The team’s inability to score goals is a very serious concern.

” As I said earlier, we got a lot of clear chances we could have converted to get the game done. I think the coaches know exactly what they need to do. By the grace of God, let’s see how it goes in the game against Japan.”

Randy Waldrum’s charges suffered the same margin of defeat to Brazil in their opening match on Thursday at Stade Matmut-Atlantique in Bordeaux, where Gabi Nunes’ 37th-minute goal separated both sides.

The Rasheedat Ajibade-led team now must roll up their sleeves to secure victory against Japan in their last match starting at 16:00 at Stade de la Beaujoire – Louis Fonteneau, Nantes, which they are not favoured to win going by Japan’s impressive 2-1 win over Brazil on Sunday.

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