Nigeria and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) have good reason to lament their bad draws, but would probably be happy to face neither Germany nor Brazil in the opener of the Olympic soccer tournament.
The two teams were seen as underdogs in the undisputed "Group of Death", but the winner of the match can at least take a breath before preparing their next game against the group's more formidable rivalries.
In three previous meetings between the pair, the Asians have two victories to the Africans' one.
Spearheaded by veteran captain Ri Kum-Suk, DPRK has been a dominant force on the Asian scene. It also broke into the quarter-finals of last year's FIFA Women's World Cup, where it breezed across Nigeria 2-0 in group stage.
Coach Kim Pong II's side will surely hope to repeat the history.
A rising global power and a debutant to the Olympics, the Koreans have finished the qualification with six straight wins. But Kim has a modest attitude towards the games.
"It's too early to talk about the medals. We just want to play each game well and the results will tell everything," he told a press conference on Monday.
But the Africans have shown a lot of confidence and no fear for any opponents. Jossy Lad, Nigeria's coach, told Xinhua, "People are saying that my group is a group of death, but I don't see any group of death," he said. "We have come a long way here, and we will be the survivors of the fiesta."
"In the 1999 Women's World Cup, DPR Korea was our first opponent, and we beat them. We also played against Brazil. They led us 3-0 in the first half, but we leveled 3-3 in the second," Jossy said. "All the teams are dangerous for us, but we want to look equally dangerous to them as well."
Seen as hard-to-predict by group opponents, the team's another coach Joseph Ladipo said the tactics are in his heart and no one had chance to know it before the match.
"We are not afraid of them. We just respect them and are going to give them a good fight," Ladipo said. "Definitely Nigeria will be one of the two qualifiers to the next round."
Boasting two two-time African Women Player of the Year, Uwak Cynthia and Perpetua Nkwocha, the Super Falcons are the seven-time African champions. However, they have been unable to dominate beyond Africa in such arenas as the FIFA Women's World Cup or the Olympic Games.
The team has been to every World Cup since 1991, but managed just once to finish in the top eight. Its best standing in the Olympics were the 6th in Athens.
(Xinhua News Agency August 5, 2008)