Nigeria’s U-20 women’s football team, the Falconets, lost 1-0 to their Mexican counterparts in an International Friendly match in Bogota, Colombia, which served as their final test before the 11th FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup finals kicking off on Saturday.
Two-time silver medallists, Nigeria, last week beat Australia 2-1 as part of their preparations and on Monday faced the challenge of Mexico as they looked for another victory ahead of their U-20 Women’s World Cup campaign.
In match played at the Club Banco de la República in the Colombian capital city, Mexico scored the only goal of the game in the 20th minute, courtesy of a strike by Alejandra Lomelí.
‘The friendly matches were crucial for the Falconets as they have helped the team fine-tune their strategies and assess their readiness for the tournament,’ Falconets head coach Christopher Danjuma said.
‘We won five of our six qualifying matches with healthy score-lines and have added victory over the Australians, even though we lost to the Mexico team.
‘That the team played two international friendly matches and won one and lost one shows the girls are ready and we will work more on our lapses before the competition,’ he said.
Danjuma however acknowledged that the FIFA World Cup finals would not be easy.
‘The fact that we are up against Korea Republic and three-time winners Germany in our first two matches means we need to be at our best physically, mentally and psychologically,’ Danjuma added.
‘Physically and mentally, I believe we are in shape. Psychologically, we are good also. The team left Nigeria to Colombia for two weeks so that we can play quality friendly matches in readiness and we have done that.’
President of NFF, Ibrahim Musa Gusau, who attended the match alongside Chairman of the Technical and Development Sub-Committee Sharif Rabiu Inuwa, General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi and Head of Women’s Football Amina Daura, praised the Falconets for their impressive display.
NFF charged them to be encouraged by the good showing as they gear up for t
he FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, tagged, Colombia 2024.
Nigeria are with Germany, Venezuela and the Korea Republic in Group D of the tournament, scheduled to start on Saturday, September 22nd.
Nigeria will take on Korea Republic in their first match at the 10,000-capacity Estadio Metropolitano de Techo in Bogota on 2nd September, the same venue where they will confront three-time champions Germany two days later.
Their final match of the group phase is against Venezuela at the Estadio Pascual Guerrero in Cali on 7th September.
Source: Voice of Nigeria