By Calister Enejele.
Nigeria’s U20 girls, Falconets has set a new FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup record for themselves after a perfect group stage performance.
Falconets first appearance at the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup was in 2002, twenty years after the girls finished the group games with maximum nine points from three group games for the first time setting a new World Cup performance in Costa Rica.
The U20 girls defeated France 1-0 in their first game, they also managed a slim 1-0 win over South Korea in the second game while they round up the brilliant group stage performance with an emphatic 3-1 win against Canada in their third group game on Thursday.
Falconets head coach, Christopher Danjuma was elated about the girls’ performance and character against Canada.
“It was great for us to come back from that setback, and also conceding first in the tournament. We showed character and spirit, and that would be huge for us going forward in the competition,” said Danjuma.
Esther Onyenezide has been one of the emerging stars at the 2022 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup. She has scored three goals and voted the Women of the Match twice. She is known for her trade mark long range shots.
“I feel so excited about our group stage performance and my personal performance, winning the Best player of the game twice. We have been training and working, the set pieces are from what we do in training and we have been able to show the world our class.” Onyenezide said.
The Nigeria U20 girls are through to the quarter-final, they will battle The Netherlands for a place in the semifinal on Sunday (August 21st).
