Women’s World Cup odds, picks

After earning a surprising draw against Canada in its first World Cup match, Nigeria will look to throw Group B into utter chaos against co-hosts Australia on Thursday (6 a.m. ET).

The bookmakers aren’t giving the Super Eagles much of a chance to pull the upset — they’re currently sitting at +675 to win — but Nigeria has already shown it’s not a pushover. 

Nigeria benefited from a missed penalty kick from Canada in the nil-nil draw, but this wasn’t a fluke effort.

The Super Eagles held the reigning Olympic Gold medalists to just 0.6 expected goals from open play. 

Australia vs. Nigeria prediction

(6 a.m. ET. FOX Sports)

The plan for Nigeria won’t change much from game to game.

The Super Eagles will know their best chance to collect a win will come against Ireland in their final group-stage match, so you can expect another feisty, defensive effort on Thursday as they try to stick with Australia for as long as they can. 

Australia had some issues with a similar effort from Ireland in their opener and it took a 52nd-minute penalty from Steph Catley to put the Aussies ahead of a valiant Irish side.

By the end of the match the Australians had created just 0.8 expected goals from open play against Ireland and conceded 0.6.

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The Matildas deserved the win, but it wasn’t anything to write home about.  

With Nigeria expected to sit deep and defend from the moment the game kicks off and Australia looking a little stodgy against Ireland, I’m happy to pay a little juice on the Under 2.5.

Our pick

Under 2.5 goals (-140, BetMGM)