Nigeria’s Under-20 women’s national team, the Super Falconets have qualified for the finals of the 2016 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Papua New Guinea.
The Falconets seal their passage into the FIFA’s female cadet championship on Sunday after a 1-0 defeat of their South African counterpart at the at Makhulong Stadium, Tembisa, in Johannesburg.
Chinwendu Ihehuo’s16th minute strike was all that Falconets needed to seal a 3-1 aggregate victory against South Africa, after their first leg 2-1 win in Abuja a fortnight ago.
The South Africans needed a 1-0 win to qualify for the finals ahead of the Nigerians who reached the final and eventually lost 0-1 to host, Germany in the last edition of the championship. But, it was the Falconets who snatched a lone victory instead after a tight contest to join nine other national teams that have qualified for the tournament.
Others teams already qualified for the tournament are Japan, North Korea, South Korea, New Zealand, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the hosts, Papua New Guinea.
The 2016 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Papua New Guinea will accommodate 16 teams in the tournament and six more teams are expected to book their passage soon.
By Olisemeka Obeche