Nigeria’s female youth national team, Falconets have received a huge boost with ‘motivation money’ ahead of their quarter-finals clash with Colombia at this year’s FIFA Women’s U20 World Cup in Poland.
Sports247 gathered that the monetary motivation came from the payment of outstanding daily allowances for the players and officials on the eve of the big clash with the Colombians in Łódź.
Added to their entitlements, the acting general-secretary of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Dr Emmanuel Ikpeme also gave out a personal largesse to the players in appreciation of their remarkable victory over England in Thursday’s round of 16 tie.
It means Moses Aduku’s side now has a double dose of cash incentives spurring them into the next game, following their outstanding performance in Thursday’s 3-0 victory over highly-favoured England.
Aduku will again count on goals from Tosin Rafiu, Janet Akekoromowei, Winner David and Mary Mamudu as well as more agile saves by goalkeeper and captain, Christiana Uzoma to floor Colombia on Sunday.
Uzoma not only kept Nigeria in the game against England with six big saves, including stopping a penalty kick, she also motivated her colleagues from the back, a task that will be a lot easier rhis time out, following the cash they all got on Saturday.
Ahead of Sunday’s 2pm kick-off at Municipal Stadium, the Falconets will also recall that they defeated Poland 1-0 in a pre-tournament friendly, which makes Colombia’s win of the same scoreline against the hosts on Thursday less worrisome.
There is also a symbolic part of history that Nigeria also defeated Colombia in the 2010 edition right after beating England in their prevails game at that year’s Female Cadet Mundial, which took place in Germany.
While Nigeria has reached the final twice in this competition’s history, the best for Colombia was the 2010 semi-final they lost to the Falconets, who now hold all bragging rights in Sunday’s game, which will hold at their familiar ground in Lodz.
The Falconets’ confidence was further boosted during Saturday’s last training session, with the NFF’s payment of all outstanding daily allowances for the players and officials, followed by a personal largesse from Ikpeme.
After personally splashing his token of appreciation on the players, in addition to their daily allowances, Ikpeme urged them to put the heroics over England behind them and go all out for victory against Colombia on Sunday.
Ikpeme noted, “You have sustained a great mentality in this tournament since the 0-0 draw with China in your second match. Tournaments naturally get tougher at the closing stages.
“However, tough teams get tougher when the going gets tough. The NFF has confidence in you to make Nigeria proud by not only overcoming the Colombian challenge, but also going all the way to lift the trophy for the very first time.”
