Nigeria’s Falconets’ journey at the FIFA U-20 women’s World Cup has ended following a 2-1 defeat to Japan in the round of 16 in the early hours of Friday, Completesports.com reports.
Goals in each half from Miyu Matsunaga and Maya Hijikata sealed the win for the 2018 U-20 women’s champions and place into the quarter-finals.
Falconets goal was scored by Olushola Shobowale deep in stoppage time which was just a consolation goal.
The result means Japan has now beaten the Falconets in their last three meetings at the U-20 World Cup (2012, 2016, 2024).
Japan has now joined hosts Colombia, USA, Brazil, North Korea, Spain, USA and Germany in the quarter-finals.
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Shobowale had the Falconets first chance in the 7th minute but failed to convert.
Three minutes later the Falconets went close again but Miyu Matsunaga made a timely block to deny them.
After a very tight contest Matsunaga opened the scoring for Japan in the 33rd minute.
The Falconets did everything possible to get back on level terms as they were on top in the early part of the second half but the Japanese maintained their lead.
In the 65th minute Aemu Oyama had a chance on goal but failed to convert.
Just one minute later Maya Hijikata got on the score sheet to make it 2-0 to Japan.
With 12 minutes left Japan almost extended their lead but Faith Omilana pulled off a good save to deny them.
Japan continues to create more scoring opportunities and almost got a third only for Suzu Amano to be denied in the 86th minute.
In the 91st minute the Falconets pulled a goal back through Shobowale to make it 2-1 after being set up by Goodness Osigwe.
It was too little too late as the Japanese held on to go through.
By James Agberebi
6 Comments
As expected in many quarters, Head Coach Chris Danjuma performed poorly in yet again another U-20 Women’s World Cup by failing to reach the semi-finals for the third time of asking.
I disagree vehemently with AYtheGreat and Josh who commented on another thread that this team was mediocre. That is simply not true.
Did you guys watch the match? Japan at this level are undeniably world class, fair and simple. The fact that Danjuma’s ladies reduced the deficit and put Japan on the back foot for the remainder of the game showed what these Falconets could have produced under a more astute coach.
Danjuma is not astute. He is not technically suss, savvy, sapient or shrewd. He lacks the tactical nuance to raise the profile of these ladies’ game to match high calibre oppostions.
I still remember vividly this same Danjuma losing to back to back finals to Ghana in the last 2 years, this same Ghana that Japan walloped 4:1. If Danjuma couldn’t fashion a way to win WAFU and All Africa Games against this poor Ghana, what hope did we have against Japan?
I maintain, these ladies are good enough. I punished myself to wake up to watch this game but I was semi-conscious for most of the first half in fairness.
Still, all I saw were the Falconets trying to match Japan’s explosive, blitzkrieg brand of football with quick interplay of passes and rapid incursions into dangerous Nigerian territory. Didn’t Danjuma know that, that was a kamikaze approach from Nigeria? It was simply suicidal. You can’t go toe-to-toe with this Japan and prevail. Perhaps a more guerrilla approach to sit back, soak pressure and counter with the breakneck speed of Chiamaka and Sebastian would have done the trick (a bit of smash and grab).
Whereas Japan’s quick passes got them into delicate Nigerian areas to eventually score the first goal, most of Nigeria’s quick long balls into Japan’s area landed in harmless territory, only always giving initiative back to Japan.
As Josh observed, Danjuma failed woefully to get the best out of our midfielders on the night. The services to our danger women Sebastian and Chiamaka were woeful. Our defense were overloaded from the flanks and the centre defense were strewn Japanese bodies seeking to cause damage. As early as 15 minutes, our centre defenders and goalkeeper had make match saving interceptions.
And what was Danjuma doing?
Anyway, for this level, a number of the Falconets players are good. As their coach offered nothing different, they tried to match Japan’s surprise-speed-and superiority firepower approach with quick passes straight from defence to attack and to halt Japan’s advance with last ditch tackles which kept Nigeria in the game long enough to even score 1 goal.
But ultimately Nigeria’s passing routines were not as polished, precise or penetrative enough which gave Japan the edge on the night.
Well done to the ladies who played to the instructions and directions of a coach who himself only knows how to reach the second round of World Cups, no more no less.
Hindsight is usually 20/20.While Nigerians usually blame the coached when they fail,we forget that Nigeria is a dysfunctional country. In my opinion these set of players were better two years ago in Costa Rica. Olowokere managed them better, they were quick to the ball,what happened to the star of that tournament AJAKAIYE and Oyinede. We do not plan, so we should not be surprised when we meet teams that really plan.
I want to sincerely congratulate the Coaching Crew and the girls for putting up such historic performance. A mere look at the statistics indicates that we lost many scoring chances compared to the Japanese. You are an ambassador of this country Nigeria. The ouster from the tournament should not be a stumbling block rather continue to to what you know best as there are several opportunities ahead of you to grab when necessary.
Which statistics did you look at….LMAOoo.
Can you kindly post them here.
@Joseph, I suspect that you are coach Danjuma’s brother in-law.
Who be this? Which match did you watch? Only highlights on FIFA TV YouTube of the other 3 matches of the day made me bow my knees in gratitude to God that we are out. See the beautiful clinical goals Netherlands scored against France or is it our perennial nemesis Germany routing Argentina or the small but mightily overwhelming Korea DPR schooling Austria?
It is good we were sacked. Sadly, Wafu B is next year and knowing how incompetent NFF perpetually is, they’d likely leave Danjuma in charge of the team to still understudy Ghana lol.
No matter how beautiful a set of worktools is, a bad workman will render it ineffective. #DanjumaOut should have been ideal but when Eguavoen is on his 4th stint as a coach in a nation of over 200 million people who can’t throw up any other manager for their senior team, who am I to “sack” Danjuma after 3 unsuccessful stints at under 20 level.
Very soon, we will start poaching foreign talents for most of our lower teams to hide the flaws of our uncooked, untrained, uninspiring coaching crews.