Nigeria’s U-20 women’s national team on Sunday bowed out of the FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup in Papua New Guinea despite a 2-1 win over Spain in their final group match.
The Falconets went into the encounter played at the PNG Stadium in Port Moresby needing to win by a wide margin to qualify.
But it was Spain that opened the scoring through Alba Redondo in the seventh minute.
Nigeria however restored parity just five minutes later thanks to Ihuoma Onyebuchi‘s goal, the first conceded by Spain at the competition.
Chinwendu Ihezuo finally put the Falconets ahead after 72 minutes, getting on the end of a long pass and beating two Spain defenders before firing home.
And though Nigeria played the final moments of the game with 10 ladies, after Glory Ogbonna got a second yellow, the Falconets held on for the win.
The result put Nigeria on six points, level with Spain and Japan; that thrashed Canada 5-0 in their final group match.
Japan’s win means the Asians win Group B by virtue of goal difference while Spain join them in the next round, with Nigeria left to rue their 6-0 loss to Japan on the opening day as they head home from Papua New Guinea.
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