Dedevbo hails Falconets as team bow out

Head Coach of Nigeria U-20 Peter women national team Peter Dedevbo yesterday showered encomiums on his girls, even as the Falconets crashed out of the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup despite two wins out of three matches.

The Falconets’ dreams of advancing in the tournament was truncated despite a 2-1 victory over Spain that gave saw them finishing on six points as Japan and Spain.

For Dedevbo, his girls deserve all the accolades because they proved themselves worthy ambassadors of Africa’s most populous nation.

The 2014 World Cup silver medalwinning Coach noted that the girls gave their best in flying Nigeria and Africa’s flag but it was unfortunate that they were so cruelly eliminated, despite finishing with the same six points as the two other teams (Japan and Spain) that advanced to the last eight.

“Sincerely speaking, you all are stars and I am proud of you. Despite the circumstances, you were not disgraced. We had lofty dreams of making it to the final or even going one better than we took our country in Canada four years ago, but it was not to be. Collectively and individually, we worked towards achieving that goal, but our best could not take us that far,” Dedevbo said.

It was certainly their best performance of the tournament, but it happened that they left it too late, and Nigeria’s Falconets’ 2-1 win over Spain yesterday failed to take them past the group stage of the 8th FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup finals.

They needed to win and for Japan not to win in the other Group B match, but the Asians steamrolled their Canadian opponents 5-0 just across the city in Port Moresby, meaning the Nigerian girls would be heading home instead of heading into the quarter-finals after wins over Canada and Spain.

Spain, who walloped Canada 5-0 before defeating Japan 1-0, were ahead after only six minutes when Alba Redondo slotted past goalkeeper Onyinye Okeke as the European vice champions swept into Nigeria’s vital area.

However, Nigeria drew level six minutes later, Ihuoma Onyebuchi cashing in on an opportunity in a goalmouth scramble from a corner kick.

In the second half, stand-in captain Chiwendu Ihezuo raced onto another intelligent Ajibade pass and past two defenders to score the winner in the 72nd minute.

Although they finished with six points, same as Japan, Nigeria had a deficit of three goals while the Japanese had 10 goals to their advantage.

Nigerian forward Ihezuo was selected as Live Your Goals Player of the Match.