Nigeria Content Online

After breaking
their quarter final jinx by defeating the defending champions, USA, in
the round of eight, the Falconets will today face Colombia in the
second semi final match of the ongoing FIFA U-20 World Cup in Germany.

The match will be
the first meet between debutants Colombia and Nigeria in a women’s
football event with the match time fixed for 5.30pm at the Bielefeld
Stadium.

The Falconets, who
will be making their first ever semi-final appearance are already fired
up with the arrival of the wife of Nigeria’s President, Patience
Jonathan alongside the Football Federation interim President, Aminu
Magari, who have boosted the confidence of the girls.

According to the
team’s coach, Adat Egan, the presence of the two personalities has
further gingered the spirit of the girls to go all out for victory. He
also pointing out that girls want to do their best in order not to
disappoint their teeming fans at home.

“Before we arrived
in Germany, the girls promised that we would get beyond the
quarter-final stage, now we are looking to the final itself – that is
our target. The information we have been getting from Nigeria is that
all the people are very, very happy with the result.

“It will help a lot
more girls to take up the game, which can only be good for the
development of Nigerian football,” he told FIFA.com.

Steady improvement

A study of the
history of the competition shows the Nigerian ladies have undergone
steady improvement in recent years. In 2002, they were bottom of their
group; in 2004 they finished third, which was enough to take them into
the quarter-finals. Two years later, they were second before losing to
Brazil in the last eight; and in 2008 they topped their group but fell
to France in the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, the
other quarter final fixture will be between host Germany and Korea
Republic. The two teams are the tournament’s top-scoring sides with 13
and 11 goals respectively.