Nigeria’s female youth national team, Falconets have been issued a stern warning to beware of the might of Colombia in Sunday’s quarter-finals’ fixture at the ongoing FIFA Women’s U20- World Cup in Poland, Sports247 reports.
READ ALSO: Aduku Dares Colombia, Says: Falconets Have Extraordinary Opportunity To Write Their Names In Gold
Heading into the 2pm kick-off at Stadion Miejski ŁKS Łódź, the verdict from all pundits is that Colombia have been buoyed by their historic victory over hosts Poland on Thursday, which set them up for an epic rematch with Nigeria, who defeated them 1-0 during the 2010 semi-finals.
While the Nigerian girls will be eager to repeat history, especially after defeating England 3-0 on the same evening, just before Colombia’s game, they will have to watch out for the soaring confidence with which the South Americans will come at them.
These permutations have been raised by match analysts, with many tipping Sunday’s game to be wide open between both history chasing squads, and the word out for the Nigerians is that it will not be easy to achieve their hope of getting to a third final.
Having been there in 2010 and 2014, history is on Nigeria’s side, but, for it to be repeated on Sunday, the Falconets have been warned by the experts that they will need to be on their toes for more than 90 minutes against the vastly improved Colombians.
A preview by fifa.com noted in part, “Moses Aduku and his players are daring to dream big as they target a return to the semi-finals, a feat Nigeria have not achieved since Canada 2014, when a certain Asisat Oshoala was making her mark for the Falconets.
“The African giants will nevertheless need to be wary of Colombia in what promises to be a wide-open quarter-final. Carlos Paniagua’s side may have been second-best for long periods, but they pulled off a major upset by knocking out hosts Poland 1-0 in the Round of 16.
“Courageous and resilient, the South Americans will be hoping to make amends for what happened two years ago on home soil when they were eliminated on penalties by the Netherlands. Sixteen years after reaching the last four, the Colombians have another chance to make history.”
