U-20 World Cup: Falconets Humble Venezuela 4-0

• Make the last 16 round in style

Two-time silver medallists, Falconets of Nigeria have qualified for the Round of 16 of the ongoing FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia with a 4-0 spanking of fellow Group D opponents, Venezuela on Saturday.

Goals from Amina Bello, Chiamaka Okwuchukwu, Flourish Sabastine and substitute Joy Igbokwe were all the Nigerian girls needed to despatch their Venezuelan counterparts in the encounter  decided inside the Pascual Guerrero Stadium in Cali

The goal rush began early when Chiamaka cut-back teased Amina Bello up for the opener in the 16th minute and the provider (Chiamaka) turned scorer in the 28th minute rising high to meet a header that made the scoreline 2-0 just before the half-hour mark.

Chiamaka, who scored Nigeria’s solitary goal in their 1-3 loss to Germany on Wednesday night, was at it again in added time of the first half, when her pull-out assisted Flourish Sabastine to put the Falconets further ahead in the 45+5 minute of the game.

Effectively steering the Falconets to the tournament’s Round of 16, substitute Joy Igbokwe scored the fourth goal in the 90+4 minutes of added time. The victory earned the Falconets six points with a plus-three goal difference in their Group D standings.

In their Round of 16 encounter to be played in Bogota on Thursday, Nigeria will face either Japan or Austria while Venezuela which finished bottom of the group have made an early exit from the competition.

Interestingly, Nigeria will be making her 10th appearance in the knockout stage of the championship, even as the Venezuelans are still searching for their first win at the Under-20 Women’s World Cup.

Reacting to the victory, Nigeria’s coach Christopher Danjuma said; “It’s a fantastic feeling, and we don’t just want to win but also to play good football. We have a lot of talents that we want the world to see and this is an opportunity to see those talents because 90% of them are from the local league, they are not professionals coming from anywhere in Europe.”

GROUP D STANDING

Group D			P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	GER		3	2	0	1	4	6
2	NGA		3	2	0	1	3	6
3	KOR		3	1	1	1	0	4
4	VEN		3	0	1	2	-7	1