Falconets Beat Burundi, Qualifies For U-20 Women’s World Cup
Nigeria’s U-20 women’s football team, the Falconets, defeated Burundi 1-0 on Saturday to qualify for the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, going through 2-0 on aggregate at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja.
Both teams took a defensive approach in the first half in a bid to secure qualification. However, the two teams fought hard but were unable to find in the first half.
In the second half, Nigeria were determined to find a way to break the resilient defence of Burundi and they wewre rewarded.
The Falconets opened the scoring through Esther Ajakaye in the 79th minute after substitute Mary Lucky Mkpa set her up to break the deadlock for Nigeria.
Nigeria could have scored a second when Ajakaye found the net in the 90th minute, but the goal was disallowed by the referee for offside.
However, Nigeria went on to claim 1-0 victory after referee brought the game to an end.
The result means Nigeria qualified for the finals of the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, scheduled to hold in Colombia from August 31st – 22nd September.
🏁FULL TIME! in Abuja 📍
Nigeria 🇳🇬 1-0 Burundi 🇧🇮 (2-0)
Esther Ajakaye 79′
Our Falconets have sealed a ticket to the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup, Colombia 2024 following a back-to-back wins over the East Africans#SoarFalconets| #NGABUR| #U20WWC| #Colombia2024 pic.twitter.com/DJOzku10cP
— NGSuper_Falcons (@NGSuper_Falcons) January 20, 2024
Nigeria finished as runners-up in 2010 and 2014 editions and also reached the semi-finals in Japan in 2012.
The 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup will be the 11th edition of the championship. It will be the third time Colombia will host a FIFA tournament and the first FIFA women’s tournament to be hosted by the country.
