Nigeria 2-1 England: Falconets reach quarter-final in style

Peter Dedevbo’s ladies came from a goal down to beat the Europeans in their last group game at the Fifa U20 Women’s World Cup
Nigeria beat England 2-1 at the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton to finish as group winners at the ongoing Fifa U20 Women’s World Cup in Canada.
Goals from Loveth Ayila and Asisat Oshoala ensured the Falconets overpowered the English girls who had taken an early lead in the encounter.
Nikita Parris gave England the lead in the fifth minute after receiving a pass from Hanna Blundell before putting the ball past onrushing Nigeria goalkeeper Ibijoke Sangonuga from the edge of the box.
Ayila brought the Africans on level terms with four minutes to the end of the break as she beat her marker with a skilful drag-back and shot powerfully from 25 yards with goalkeeper Lizzie Durack failing to prevent the ball from sailing into the net despite getting a hand to it.
On resumption of the second half, Dedevbo’s girls approached the game with all sense of urgency and got rewarded 14 minutes later as they got a penalty as Oshoala was brought down after dribbling into the penalty area. She stepped up to coolly side-foot the resultant spot-kick into the bottom-right corner.
Nigeria, who will feature in their third consecutive quarter-final, will tackle Group D runners-up New Zealand. Africa’s other representatives, Ghana crashed out in the group stages despite winning two matches with one loss.