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Falconets head coach Moses Aduku is confident Nigeria can overcome a tough England side when both teams meet in the Round of 16 at the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Bielsko-Biala on Thursday.
England finished second in Group B with four points, behind group winners Brazil, setting up a challenging knockout encounter against Nigeria.
The Falconets will enter the clash hoping to build on their impressive recovery after a difficult start to the tournament.
Nigeria opened their campaign with a 2-0 defeat to Spain before playing out a goalless draw against China.
They bounced back in emphatic fashion in their final group game, thrashing tournament debutants New Caledonia 10-1 to secure their place in the last 16.
Read Also:U-20 WWC: We Still Have Some Lapses —Aduku Admits Despite Falconets’ 10-1 Win Over New Caledonia
Aduku Pleased With Progress
Aduku expressed his satisfaction with the team’s progress but admitted that there are still areas that need improvement, particularly in defence.
“We’re really happy with the goals we scored today. We wanted to get through to the last 16, and we’ve shown that we can do it,” Aduku told FIFA.
“We’ve shipped a few too many goals in this tournament so far, so we’ll be looking to shore things up at the back.”
Falconets Ready For England Test
Despite acknowledging the quality of their next opponents, Aduku believes his players are prepared for the challenge and determined to keep their title hopes alive.
“It’s going to be a tough test,” he said.
“If you want to be crowned champions, you’ve got to win every game. We’re ready for the challenge.”
By Adeboye Amosu
3 Comments
Here we go again hoooo, it is this loud mouth again ho.
He said what is needed to be said by a coach.He is no loud mouth! Moses Aduku finished second in a world cup group that has China and Spain,he has done well and deserves respect,we should always be realistic with expectations.
Like my good friend @Papafem rightly said,female football development is largely concentrated in the South West giving coaches little choices for squad improvement and development.
Winning youth tournaments at world level,coaches have to maximise the abundance of talent in all geo-political zones by selecting the best talents at that category,unfortunately,out of the 6 geo-political zones in Nigeria,only one zone (South West) has standard female football academies,coaches have to focus 90% search in this zone to build an international squad.But winning a FIFA competition is not easy because you have to play against technically sound teams like,England,Spain,Brazil,Argentina,Germany,USA,North Korea the list goes on…
These top countries have world class facilities besides that,football development cuts across every region,selection of players are done by selecting the best players across all regions unlike Nigeria who have invested less yet expecting much!
The South-South have their football mentality and flair,different from what you get from the North and East.Each geo-political zones have their style and philosophy.To gather or build a world cup winning side,development has to be in every region to produce the best materials to prosecute such a colossal project!
The truth is,we are not ready.
To win the female youth world cup,what the sports ministry needs to do,is invest in all regions,I mean with world class facilities.Female football academies have to be established across all regions,until then we would continue to make it to the knockout stages waiting for the next top team to grind us like egusi!Haha..
No mind am
England is not new Caledonian
Instead of grinding on a low key