FIFA U-20 Women World Cup: End Of The Road For Wasteful Falconets

• Nigeria 0 Netherlands 2 in Q-final tie

Nigeria’s hopes of reaching the final of the semifinals of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup were dashed in the early hours of Monday morning as Christopher Danjuma’s girls were beaten 2-0 by the Netherlands in the second quarterfinals match of the evening.

In the encounter which saw the Falconets recording, 10 corner kicks and 11 shots on target to Holland’s four corners and three shots on target, poor defending and appalling finishing at the other end proved their major undoing.

It was most disappointing as the Nigerians, beaten finalists in the 2010 and 2014 championships, failed to convert the numerous opportunities despite the huge promise shown by the forward players throughout the game.

As early as the third minute, the Falconets went threatening through Flourish Sabastine from the left flank and also recreated the goal attempt four minutes later but a penalty call was denied the Christopher Danjuma’s lads in spite of the striker going down under a heavy challenge.

Quite unexpectedly, the Dutch girls were the ones that went ahead in the 11th minute through Zera Hulswit whose dipping shot inside the 18-yard area easily beat Keeper Monle Omini Oyono following a sloppy clearance from the Nigerian defenders.

A good chance for the Falconets to restore parity was wasted when Chiamaka Okwuchukwu’s tamed header soon after the Europeans’ goal went straight into goalkeeper Lisan Alkemade’s hands.

Another chance fell to the Nigerian girls in the 15th minute as Flourish pounced on a loose ball to surge forward but her powerful left-footed shot was parried away by Alkemade for a corner. The VAR was called into duty to ascertain if a foul had occurred inside the box but the review showed that the infringement was outside the danger zone.

With half an hour played, a long-range strike by Abiodun rattled the crossbar but Okwuchukwu could not finish on the rebound. She however won a corner kick in the process.

Unfortunately, the Falconets were caught napping as another counterattack by the Dutch side led to their second goal in the 33rd minute when the usually dependable Demehin failed to clear her line. She tamely deflected onto her path which Ziva Henry pounced on to score, with the ball squirming through the hands of the Nigerian keeper.

In the 47th minute, Bashirat Amoo went for a long range effort like her midfield partner Abiodun in the first half but hers was way too high to trouble the Dutch side. Similarly, Okwuchukwu’s low cross from the right channel in the 55th was very poor as the ball rolled unhindered into the hands of the Dutch keeper.

At the hour mark, the Super Falconets had a hat-trick of chances but their shots on target never troubled the opposition keeper, even as VAR delayed proceedings for a few minutes as a possible red card against Netherlands number 4 for a foul on Joy Jerry was reviewed. She got only a yellow.

Much to the disappointment of the Nigerian bench and fans in the stands, any hope of redemption for the Falconets completely faded as the Costa Rican referee, Marianela Araya ruled ball-to-hand instead of a penalty in the second half minute of added time after one of the Dutch defenders handled the ball in the box

With the minutes ticking down, The Netherlands had a chance to go 3-0 but the Nigerian keeper pulled a great save and the corner kick was wasted. – With Agency reports