The Nigerian Under 20 Women’s football team, popularly known as the Falconets, played against Burundi on Sunday in the first leg of their FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup final qualifying round fixture held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
The match was closely contested between the two teams, with Nigeria emerging as the victors with a 1-0 scoreline.
The second leg of the fixture will be played at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja on Jan. 20.
The winner of the two-legged encounter will qualify as one of Africa’s four representatives at this year’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup finals, which is scheduled to be held in Colombia from Aug. 31 to Sept. 22.
The only goal of the game was scored by Janet Akekoromowei, who plays for the Asisat Oshoala Academy in Lagos.
She scored from the penalty spot in added time during the first half of the match.
This goal proved to be the difference between the two sides and gave Nigeria the maximum three points away from home.
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The Burundians ended the encounter with only 10 players on the field following a red card shown to defender Ariella Umuarerwa for a rough tackle.
Despite this setback, they put up a good fight and made it difficult for the Nigerian girls to score more goals.
Nigeria created more scoring chances but was unable to convert them into goals.
The Burundians stood their ground and defended well, not allowing Nigeria to increase their tally.
It is worth noting that Nigeria has an impressive record in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, having qualified for all but one edition since the competition started as the FIFA U-19 Women’s Championship back in 2002 in Canada.
However, they crashed out in the preliminary stage in that particular edition.
