5th September, 2012
Coach of the US at the ongoing Japan 2012 U-20 Women’s World Cup, Steve Swanson, has confessed that Nigeria’s Falconets gave his team a hard time in the semi final match played yesterday.
USA won their way into the final of this year’s tournament with a 2-0 victory over 2010 finalists Nigeria in Tokyo. “I‘m totally exhausted but really happy,” said Swanson. “It was a tough match, very physical. Nigeria demanded everything from us. The first goal was important. I thought our back four did a very good job of keeping possession and allowing us to get out of our end.
“The game against Ghana probably helped us. And in my opinion probably we may not have won the quarter-final against Korea DPR if we didn‘t have the tough games in the group stage. My players learnt really quick, learnt the lessons from each game and made it better in the next games.”
The Americans will play the defending champions, Germany in Saturday’s final, while Nigeria battle Japan in the third place match the same day.