Falconets Cruise Into The Semi-Finals!

By Obi Martins Okafor

The saying “what the men can do, women can do even better” was decorated with icing on the already tasty cake, as the Nigerian Falconets beat Mexico in a pulsating quarter final match to advance into the semi-finals of the Female Under-20 tournament. The Falconets of Nigeria, early Thursday, became the first team to qualify for the semi-final of the Women’s U-20 world cup. A goal by Oparanozie in the 109th minute allowed Nigeria to edge out their Central American opponent in a highly entertaining match that saw both goalkeepers making crucial saves. Nigeria dominated the match and had several shots saved by the Mexican goalkeeper in the first and second half. Nigeria had better ball possession in the game with the possession in the first half being 59%-41% in 90 minutes however ended with no goal scored by either team. The first half of extra time also ended with no goal scored. Gloria Oparanozie however scored the only goal of the match from a nice header in the 2nd minute of the second half of extra time. Nigeria now faces Japan in the semi-finals after they edged out Korea by 3-1 in the other quarterfinal match played yesterday. It won’t be surprising if our team become complacent at this stage given their antecedents, in previous competition, but the business like attitude displayed so far by our ladies in this competition, gives us more to hope for in this tournament.