Nigerian women head coach Randy Waldrum is convinced that Australia can still cause havoc despite going into the clash without their three key players.

The Matildas will be without Chelsea star forward Samantha May Kerr and Manchester City's Mary Fowler who are both out of Thursday’s game at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane through injury.

Waldrum, however, maintains that his charges need to be careful as the Aussies are still dangerous.

"We never like to see players injured, I know how devastating that is, missing matches at a World Cup," the American born tactician said in a pre-match press conference on Wednesday.

"But I don't think it really changes our tactics and what we are trying to do. They obviously still have a lot of weapons that can hurt you."

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"We know the strength of their team, I know a lot of their players well from when I was coaching in the (American) NWSL, I know their quality. So we cannot go into the match thinking we are at some advantage for that reason.”

"We have to stick to the game plan and how we have been preparing for them since after the Canada match."

Nigeria opened their campaign with a goalless draw against giants Canada whereas the Australians also pipped Ireland 1-0.

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Waldrum admits it is a very tough Group before urging his ladies to be at their maximum best in order to qualify to the knock out stages.

"It's a very, very difficult group and you're not going to be putting four or five goals in this kind of group," he said

Group B comprises Nigeria, Australia, Canada and Ireland with the Super Falcons being the least ranked country.

"We have quality in the team, players that can score goals. We just have to make sure that when those opportunities come that we're clinical with them."