Nigeria Content Online

In the past five
editions of the FIFA U-20 female championship, Nigeria’s national team
has qualified for the quarter finals, but on all those occasions they
have fallen to either luck or naivety.

This is the same
situation the team finds itself presently with today’s quarter final
match against the United States of America.

The first scary
statistic is Nigeria has never beaten USA in women’s football. No
matter the competition, the knock-out stages are always too close to
call, and this one should not be any different.

Eucharia Uche,
coach of the senior women’s team, the Super Falcons, is prayerful for
the team to go beyond the quarter final hurdle.

“The USA will be
very tough and we had never beaten them at any level; it will be very
tough. If the girls can take their chances and not be over-awed with
the Americans’ reputation, then anything can happen. You know that the
higher you go in any of these international competitions, the tougher
it always becomes, so they do not need to relax,” she said.

Not relaxing should
be the catch-phrase amongst the players, as seen in their match against
Mexico on Wednesday; they were always putting pressure on the opponents
but they got tired in the later stages, which gave the Mexicans enough
latitude to operate and get the goal that shot them to the top of the
group.

Uche added that,
“They should put in more effort to get to the semi-final and at least
get a medal. We have so far not been able to cross this hurdle of the
quarter-finals, but I think we have a very good chance with this set of
girls and they should grab the chance to make a name for themselves and
the country.”

USA again topped
their qualifying group by beating Korea Republic with a goal from
Sydney Leroux. The Americans will fancy their chances against a Nigeria
side that has never beaten them. They also boast a remarkable record in
the competition – 20 wins in 24 matches, with only two defeats.

The reigning
champions were given a boost when South Korea left out their five-goal
marksman, Ji So-Yun, and also influential midfielder, Kim Na-Rae. These
changes were made by coach Choi In Cheul in order to rest his most
impressive talents. Whether that will have been a good tactic will be
witnessed when they face Mexico on Sunday in Dresden.

The Americans, led by Leroux, are said to be cocky but their record
at this level is intimidating. Leroux said on fifa.com, “We don’t want
to make a big thing of the past because this is a new team. We are out
to win a World Cup – not defend one.”