A litany of factors, including poor finishing, hard luck and dodgy officiating by Costa Rican official Marianela Araya saw the Nigeria U20 girls bow out of the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup with a two-goal defeat by The Netherlands in their quarter-final match in Alajuela costa Rica.
Flourish Sabastine, who scored Nigeria’s three-point winner against France in the opening match of Group C, was cynically stopped in the Dutch’s box in the 7th minute, but just as she did all night, Araya looked away unimpressed.
Zera Hilswit gave the Dutch an early lead, scoring in the 11th minute of the first half.
Ziva Henry doubled the Dutch’s lead against the Falconets on 33 minutes, with the second half producing no goal.
From hitting the crossbar to dominating the entire proceeding and playing virtually the entire second period in the half of the Europeans, the Falconets could not manage to convert the numerous chances that came begging.
Even the glimmer of hope that came deep in stoppage time in form of a penalty was overturned after a VAR review to sum up Nigeria’s U20 night and to make clear the side luck chose to favor.
The defeat was, unfortunately, one that marked the end of the road for Danjuma’s side journey at the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica.
The Netherlands will now meet Spain on Thursday in the first semi-final fixture after the European side beat Mexico 1-0 in the first quarter-final match on Saturday.
Brazil who also won 1-0 against Colombia on Saturday in the second quarter-final match awaits the winners of the fourth quarter-final match fixture between defending champions Japan and France.
Main Image: Premium Times Nigeria
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