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After a nail-biting
final ten minutes, Nigeria’s U-20 female national team drew 1-1 with
their opponents from Mexico to qualify for the quarter finals. The
Falconets have now made it to the quarter finals for the fourth time
since the inception of the age-grade tournament in 2002.

The Nigerian team
started very well and got their just reward when Ebere Orji scored the
opener in the 13th minute. Orji had made two assists in previous
matches. The sequence of events that led to the goal was fortuitous, to
say the least.

Mexican keeper,
Cecilia Santiago, mishandled a lame shot from Amarachi Okoronkwo to
give the Falconets a corner kick in the 12th minute. The resultant kick
was knocked back across the goal by Esther Sunday, and Orji gratefully
tucked the cross into an empty net.

Orji almost doubled
the lead in the 22nd minute when her speculative cross helped by
Jabulani’s flight completely fooled Santiago, but the cross bar saved
the Mexican goal tender’s blushes.

Another three-woman move in the 27th minute created a shooting opportunity for Amarachi Okoronkwo, but she shot wide.

At that point, it
was complete control by the Nigerian team with the duo of Martina
Ohadugha and Amarachi Okoronkwo marshalling the midfield with Alaba
Jonathan, Falconets goalkeeper, virtually on holiday.

Mexico resurgent

That scenario
changed in the second half as the Mexcan coach, Roberto Medina, made
changes to chase the equaliser. At the beginning of the second half,
Japan were leading England 1-0 and any further goal by the opposition
would have relegated them out of the competition.

Another reason for the increased pressure on the Nigerian team may have been the removal of the goal scorer, Ebere Orji.

Her replacement,
Ngozi Ebere, was however, replaced 22 minutes later by Uchechi Sunday,
as Coach Adat Egan continued to tinker his team. At this point, James
Peters, assistant secretary general (Technical), was the cynosure of
all eyes as he apparently took over the coach’s job. He was parading
the technical zone, shouting and gesticulating at the players, and the
girls must have begun to wonder if Egan had been sacked from the bench.

The Mexican team
continued to press and finally the pressure paid off. In the 75th
minute, Osinachi Ohale needlessly conceded a corner kick when she had
time to make a back-pass to her goalkeeper.

There followed a
sequence of three corner kicks. After missed clearances in the Nigerian
box, Alina Garciamendez smashed an unstoppable volley into the top
right-hand corner.

Nigeria then had to hang on as news filtered in that Japan had
beaten England 3-1. The two teams finally settled for the 1-1 draw that
saw them qualify for the quarter final to face teams from Group D on
Sunday in either Augsburg or Dresden.