Nigeria’s U-20 Women’s team, Falconets, began their 2022 World Cup campaign with a 1-0 victory over France on Friday in Group C’s opening match at the Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica.
Despite dominating the French side, Coach Christopher Danjuma’s ladies were held to a goalless draw for almost 90 minutes until Flourish Sabastine broke the deadlock five minutes to full time.
Mercy Idoko’s sublime through ball opened the French side up and located Sabastine who then beat the opponent’s goalie with a left-footed shot to sink Sonia Haziraj’sladies.
The Falconets are now second in Group C behind South Koreans who defeated the Canadian U-20 side 2-0 in their first game earlier on Friday.
However, both sides will battle for the group’s top spot when Danjuma’s ladies face In-Sun Hwang’s side at the Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto on Sunday.
Bottom-placed Canada will also face France as both sides look to rescue their Costa Rica 2022 campaign when they meet next at the Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica on Monday.
All group phase and quarter-final matches will be played at the Alejandro Morera Soto, which is a hybrid of natural and synthetic grass called stitched grass. The semi-final, final and third place matches will take place at the Estadio Nacional.
