Nigeria’s youth female national team, Falconets are bound to face a very tough challenge away to Malawi this Saturday in the second leg of their final qualifier for the 2026 FIFA U20 Women’s World.
Sports247 reports that, though the Falconets won the first leg 2-0 last weekend in Ikenne, this Saturday’s reverse fixture at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe will not be a stroll in the park for Coach Moses Aduku’s side.
That’s because their hosts are taking a lot of inspiration from the giant strides being achieved in women’s football by one of their neighbours, Zambia, in Africa and the world at large.
This much was disclosed by the Malawian squad’s head of delegation for last weekend’s first leg in Ikenne, Dr Lameck Zetu Khonje, who revealed in an exclusive interview with Sports247 that the zeal to be like Zambia and play on the global stage is spurring the squad towards excellence.
Dr Khonje, who is a lecturer at Mzuzu University, added: “If you check what’s happening in Zambia and Zimbabwe, you can convincingly say Malawi has good examples to follow. It means countries in Central and East Africa are becoming a strong force in women’s football.
“Malawi is also growing, and we will be stronger in a few years to come. Zambia is a little bit ahead of Malawi but, with what our girls did against Nigeria in the first leg, it means we have become formidable.”
He concluded by warning Aduku that the Falconets will not have an easy game on Saturday, considering that they could only score twice in the second half of the first leg, and the first was actually an own goal.
“What our girls did in the first leg showed that we will soon be a strong force in years to come. It also showed that the second leg will be a very tough encounter.
“The first leg was also a very tough game, and we look forward to an interesting encounter in Malawi. Nigeria will want to seal their victory in Malawi, but our young girls will put up their best efforts,” Khonje assured.
