Super Falconets advance to World Cup quarter finals after lone goal victory over Korea

NIGERIA'S Super Falconets have booked their place in the quarter-finals of the U20 Women's World Cup currently taking place in Costa Rica with a 1-0 win over South Korea in the second Group C match last night.

After bad weather which delayed kick-off for about an hour, the Falconets managed to secure their second win of the tournament, thanks to another late goal. At the game which took place at the Alejandro Morera Soto Stadium in Alajuela, the Falconets weathered several first-half attacks from the Koreans to stay in the game.

Early on, Suin Lee's free-kick rattled the left-hand upright but the game remained goalless going into the break. In the second half, Korean goalkeeper Kim Kyeonghee produced an acrobatic save to deny Esther Onyenezide from long range effort.

However, Onyenezide eventually scored with a thunderous strike from outside the box in the 83rd minute. After that, the Koreans piled in the pressure looking for an equaliser but fabulous goalkeeping from Omini Oyono helped Nigeria hold on and seal a second 1-0 win and a spot in the quarter-finals.

Player of the match, Onyenezide said: "We are a giant in Africa and fear no other team. We've trained an unbelievable amount and if you look back at qualifying, then we've every right to be confident out here whenever we play. We want to show the world that we're not just big in African terms but that we can beat any other team."

Nigeria's Falconets, who lost in the tournament's final in 2010 and 2014 to Germany, opened their account in the current World Cup with a 1-0 win over France. They now face already-eliminated Canada in their final group game on Thursday.

Ghana, the other African team involved in the tournament lost 2-0 to Japan in Group D yesterday and have now been eliminated from the tournament. Ghana's Black Princesses, who have never gone past the group stage of the tournament in five previous appearances, will now end their campaign against the Netherlands on Thursday.