4th September, 2012
The hope of Nigeria’s Falconets to play in the final of Japan 2012 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup was dashed by the United States of America, USA, when they lost their semi final match with two unreplied goals early today.
The Nigerian ladies were complacent in their approach to the match, and paid dearly for not utilising their chances, leaving the more determined Americans to advance to the grand finale of the World Cup.
Morgan Brian scored the opening goal for USA in the 23rd minute, while Kealia Ohai added the second in the 70th minute.
The Nigerian ladies showed some flashes from the blast of the whistle, but were rather wasteful with the chances they created during the pulsating encounter watched by a handful of fans.
It was Francesca Ordega, who should had gotten the curtain raiser in the second minute of the tie, but her shot went off target.
Ordega, Esther Sunday and Desire Oparanozie came close to scoring on several occasions, but they failed to play as a team and allowed the Americans to dictate the pace of the tie.
With a goal in their kitty in the first half, the Americans showed the Nigerians no respect as they intensified their search for more goals until the centre referee, Esther Staubli from Switzerland ended the stanza.
On resumption of the second half, it was the Americans who played purposeful football, as they challenged for every ball with the Nigerians. The Americans however increased their goal tally with about 20 minutes to go and sent the Falconets out of the gold and silver medals zone.
It would be recalled that the Nigerian team denied the Americans a final place at the last edition of the tournament held in Germany two years ago, where the Flaconets knocked them out in the qurater final.
Meanwhile, Japan and Germany played the second semi final this afternoon.