Nigeria's football success continues as Falconets qualify for World Cup

NIGERIA'S ongoing footballing success continues unabated with the Super Falconets having secured qualification for the U20 Women's World Cup due in Canada later this year with a 7-0 aggregate win over South Africa.

Over the weekend, the Falconets beat South Africa's Bayana Bayana 1-0 at the Dobsonville Stadium, in Johannesburg thanks to a lone goal by Yetunde Adeboyejo. Two weeks ago, the Falconets had beaten the South Africans 6-0 in Abuja, making the second leg a formality and as such easily qualifying for their third World Cup on the trot.

Africa has two representatives at the tournament taking place between August 4 and 24, With Ghana taking the other slot having beaten Equatorial Guinea on Sunday. During qualification, the Falconets were simply awesome, wining all six games, scoring a record-breaking 31 goals in the process without conceding any.

Along with Brazil, Germany and US, Nigeria has been omnipresent at all the U20 Women's World Cup finals and the Falconets' experience showed in all three rounds. They thrashed Sierra Leone 16-0 on aggregate in the first round, including a 10-0 rout in the first leg and in the second round enjoyed two 4-0 victories against Tunisia.

Coach Peter Dedevbo dismissed suggestions that Nigeria had no tough matches because the opposition was so weak. He added: "It is not because we do not have any opposition, it is because I have a good team.

"This present U-20 team has been together for a long time. This was the team that played in the U-17 World Cup in 2012 together, so it is experienced."

Nigeria's Super Falconets made their debut at the maiden U20 World Cup also in Canada in 2002 and remain the only African team to have qualified for every edition of the tournament. Their best outing was at the 2010 edition where they lost 2-0 to hosts Germany in the final and will be hoping to at least match that this year.

Over the last year, Nigeria has seen a significant rise in her footballing fortunes as the Super eagles won the African Cup of Nations and the Golden Eaglets won the U17 World Cup. At the moment, the home-based Eagles are on course to win the Championship of African Nations taking place in South Africa.