Costa Rica 2022: Falconets buoyed by Super Eagles performance

Nigeria’s U20 girls, Falconets who are engaged in qualification for Costa Rica 2022 are buoyed by the performance of the Super Eagles at the ongoing 33rd Africa Cup of Nations and say they are motivated for a great result when they take on their Cameroonian counterparts in a FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup qualifying match in Douala on Saturday.

Coach Chris Danjuma watched his girls limber up briefly to shake off jet lag following their arrival in Douala on Thursday, and have been scheduled for a feel of the match venue – Stade Japoma de Douala – on Friday evening.

“We are highly motivated by the performance of the Super Eagles so far at the AFCON here in Cameroon. It is a huge tonic for us to go all out and overwhelm our opponents,” Danjuma said.

Prolific scorers Mercy Idoko, Flourish Sebastine, and Esther Onyenezide are among Danjuma’s 23-woman army for Saturday’s encounter with the Young Lionesses. It is the penultimate round of the African qualifying series for the tournament scheduled for Costa Rica in the month of August.

Reminiscing the journey so far for the girls, the Falconets will be involved in their fourth round, first leg encounter against their Camerounian counterparts. This fixture, being the penultimate round of the qualification series, will be played at the Stade Japoma riddled with the eternal rivalry between Nigeria and Cameroun being the strongest undertone in the encounter.

Two-time World Cup silver medallists Nigeria joined the qualifying race at the second round, but have already logged a 15-goal haul, including a 4-0 trouncing of hosts Republic of Congo in Brazzaville in the third round that persuaded the Congolese to jettison the plan to fly to Lagos for the return leg.

The return leg will take place at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Lagos on February 5.