Head Coach of the Nigeria U-20 Women, Christopher Musa Danjuma expressed confidence on Sunday that the Falconets, are determined to secure a victory against Mexico in their upcoming friendly match on Monday evening. The game is set to take place at Club Banco de la República in Bogota.
“Our victory over Australia was a significant boost, but I’ve reminded the team to focus solely on Monday’s game. Another win is crucial to maintaining our winning mindset. We dominated five out of our six qualifying matches with impressive scorelines, and now we’ve added a win over Australia to our accomplishments,” Danjuma said.
He continued, “The FIFA World Cup finals won’t be an easy task. Facing Korea Republic and three-time champions, Germany in our first two matches requires us to be at our best—physically, mentally, and psychologically. I believe we are in good shape physically and mentally, and we will be even better psychologically if we defeat Mexico and enter the competition unbeaten.”
In the African qualifying campaign, the Falconets demonstrated their dominance by thrashing Central African Republic 6-0 in both legs, securing a 1-1 draw in Bamako followed by a 6-0 win in Abuja against Burkina Faso, and defeating Liberia 4-1 in Monrovia and 2-0 in Abuja. They scored 25 goals while conceding only two.
On Friday, the Falconets, who were silver medallists in 2010 and 2014, edged Australia 2-1 in regular time and then won a subsequent penalty shootout arranged at the request of the Australian delegation.
The match against Mexico, a team that has missed only one edition of the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup since its inception in 2002, is expected to be a tougher challenge. The game will kick off at 3:30 pm local time in Colombia (9:30 pm Nigeria time).
Danjuma’s squad, originally from the qualifiers, has been bolstered by several players with experience in Nigeria’s senior team, the Super Falcons. Notable additions include defenders, Jumoke Alani, Rofiat Imuran, Comfort Folorunsho, forwards, Opeyemi Ajakaye, Chiamaka Okwuchukwu, and Flourish Sabastine. Folorunsho and Ajakaye were part of the Nigeria U17 squad that finished third in the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in India two years ago.
Other members of that squad now with the Falconets in Colombia include goalkeeper, Faith Omilana and forward, Aminat Omowunmi Bello.
