Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

A Story of Resilience To Get Past Controversy with the NFF, holding off the Olympic Champions and beating the Co-Hosts. Nigeria were the first African nation to deliver a victory at the 2023 FIFA Women?s World Cup (WWC) last week over co-hosts Australia and now look to be the only side from the continent capable of making it to the next round. South Africa faltered to a 2-2 draw with Argentina blowing a two goal lead but have a head-to-head with Italy to qualify while Morocco?s 1-0 win over South Korea only sets up a challenging final day showdown with Colombia to somehow scrape into the knock outs. Zambia have lost both games so far by quite a margin hence will be going home after their final game. This victory is huge but has a dark cloud over it given the controversy around pay that almost saw the team go on strike for their opening match of the tournament. The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) are reportedly withholding match bonuses from the side and the team manager amongst other notable sports personalities have been vocal on the issue. There have been frustrations over unpaid wages, a cancelled pre-WWC training camp in Nigeria and poor travel arrangements. There was a similar pay dispute over bonuses after the 2019 WWC in France which raised eyebrows as the team threatened a sit-in protest at their hotel. The NFF issues aside, Nigeria are by far the top African team having won four out of the last six...