Nigeria’s Falconets gave their hopes of qualifying for this year’s FIFA U-20 women’s World Cup in Poland a big boost, after defeating Malawi 2-0 in the first leg, final round qualifiers in Ikenne on Saturday.
After a goalless first half which saw the Falconets miss lots of scoring chances, the coach Moses Aduku-side finally got their deserved goals through an own goal for the opener and a strike from Kindness Ifeanyi.
It was Malawi’s first defeat in four away fixtures since the commencement of the qualifiers.
Malawi will hope to overturn the deficit when they host the Falconets in the return leg on May 9.
Falconets had the first chance in the fourth minute but Ifeanyi could not direct her header towards goal.
The Falconets had the best chance of the game on seven minutes but Queen Joseph failed to put the ball into an empty net after good play from Ifeanyi.
Falconets keeper was called to action on nine minutes but easily claimed a cross which was heading into the net.
On 23 minutes the Falconets had a chance but Malawi’s Maureen Kenneth made a timely clearance for a throw in.
Few minutes later the Falconets won a free kick on the edge of the Malawian box but Favour Nkwocha could not direct her effort at goal as it went just over the bar.
On 38 minutes a dangerous from Ifeanyi was well caught by Malawi keeper Emily Nkhwazi.
In the last minute of first half added time Joseph connected with a cross but saw her attempt go just over the bar.
Just a minute into the second half Falconets broke the deadlock as a Malawian player miscued the ball into her own net.
Few minutes later the Falconets had two quick opportunities but the opposition keeper made good saves.
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The Falconets continued to create chances and went close on 54 minutes but substitute Prescious Oscar, who connecyed with a through pass, hit her effort over the bar with the keeper to beat.
The home side then doubled their lead on 58 minutes through Ifeanyi, who pounced on the ball after the Malawian keeper failed to hold on to a cross and fired into the net.
Malawi were forced to change their keeper Nkhwazi who injured herself while attempting to get to the ball which led to the goal.
In the 82nd minute the Falconets got a free kick on the edge of the box but could not make it count.
On 85 minutes the Falconets saw an effort hit the post from a free kick with the rebound played straight to the keeper.
Sarah Mulimbika had a chance in the second minute of added time but hit her shot over the bar.
By James Agberebi in Ikenne
Photo by Ganiyu Yusuf in Ikenne
1 Comment
It was solid line up that Coach Moses Aduku put out, to be fair. The NWFL Hotshot Tactician clearly wanted to leave no stone unturned going to the second leg in a fortnight.
What with Igbokwe, Adeshina, Ifeanyi and Nwocha headlining the starting 11, we were up for some truly fascinating football.
But, did they deliver?
Malawi have to be applauded.
They put up stiff resistance and their goalkeeper, ever so eager to run out, bailed them out several times from Nigeria’s dangerous long balls before she got injured (coming out, again) only for Kindness Ifeanyi to stab into the resultant empty net for Nigeria’s coup-de-grace in 57 minutes.
Before then, in 46 minutes, a cross from the left, after fancy footwork from the winger, was met by a deflected shot that gave Nigeria a 1 goal lead – the match ended 2:0 to Nigeria.
I went into the encounter praying that Nigeria’s performance would make it worth my while. And, while there were no moments of magic from the Falconets, they did the business.
They delivered crosses into the opposition 18 yard box with varying degrees of quality – several were decent, some were forgettable.
Their passes were near and tidy, with the odd dangerous through balls into opposition defences to spice up proceedings. But, nothing here really pumped up my blood or got me to the edge of my seat.
The Falconets won the midfield battles and restrained Malawi, stopping them from making meaningful inroads into the Falconets’ 18 yard box.
It was nice to see Nigeria’s fullbacks overlapping to deliver decent crosses plus some players produced pockets of passing interplays that were pleasurable.
All in all, it was a professionally produced, purposefully presented powerful performance that failed to produce polish in places, but succeeded in producing the needed points in a manner that the players can be proud of.