The following are takeaways as Nigeria’s Falconets rolled to another 1-0 victory over South Korea at the ongoing FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup in Costa Rica to record two victories from two matches.
Delayed Kick-Off
The match, originally fixed for 9 pm, was shifted to 10.15 pm due to a heavy downpour that rendered the Alejandro Morera Soto Stadium pitch unsuitable to commence proceedings as scheduled.
With a sitting capacity of 17,895 people, the Stadium is named after Alejandro Morera Soto, a notable former player of LD Alajuelense, FC Barcelona, and Hércules CF.
It is located in the El Llano neighborhood of Alajuela, Costa Rica, which is the home of Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, a Costa Rican multisport club. Alajuelense is one of the most successful football clubs in Costa Rica
Super Falconets Better Side On Sunday
Going by the match statistics, the Falconets were the better team on Sunday night. It is to their credit that the girls did not lose awful lots of balls and had more percentage of the possession.
It was indeed a close affair that required some stroke of opportunism from the Falconets’ relentlessness with another late goal showing to carry the day.
South Korea Grew Into The Game
The Nigerians started the better side but the Koreans had more shots on target and could have taken the lead from their numerous chances which either came off the woodwork or had keeper Oyono being called to duty on several occasions to stop dangerous balls.
Koreans Dangerous From Set Pieces
If there is something Coach Christopher Danjuma should take away from his girls’ victory against the Korea Republic is that he needs to sharpen and improve the dead ball skills of the players.
Having players who are dead ball specialists helps when it is increasingly difficult to break down the opponents’ defence set-ups.
The South Koreans are good at dead balls situations and benefitted from it in their opening game against Canada. Against the Falconets, Lee Suin’s powerful shot from a free kick left Keeper Oyono stranded on the line but bounced off the woodwork. This was in addition to other opportunities that the Asians had during the tight encounter.
Idoko, Onyenezide Factors
The attention of the Koreans was naturally on Nigeria’s goalscorer in their match against France, Flourish Sabastine. However, the duo of Mercy Idoko and Esther Onyenezide came to the party on Sunday night.
So far, the twosome have proven that they are players who can easily unlock the opposition defence lines with their penetrating and impressive display.
Both players are creative in midfield and are also dangerous going forward when the Falconets are on the attack. Onyenezide’s brilliant long-range strike, which flew past the Korean keeper into the net, is already a contender for the goal of the tournament.
Crosses Need To Get Better
Aside from sloppy passes, another important area that the Falconets need to work on is the quality of their deliveries into the box.
Some of the crosses from right back, Jumoke Alani left much to be desired albeit she was comfortable with bringing the ball out of the defence. – Additional materials from all Nigeria Soccer
