U-20 Women's World Cup: Early goal sees Nigeria to final Special

Nigeria made history on Thursday after defeating hard-fighting Colombians in Germany to become the first African team to reach the final of the U-20 FIFA Women World Cup. They had earlier recorded a win over defending champions USA on Sunday.

An early strike from Nigeria's Falconets came almost two minutes into the first half when Ebere Orji easily netted a goal from a rebound that had hit the crossbar. The Colombians were desperate to level up, piling pressure on the Falconets who endured with strength and later used counter-offensive moves to unsettle the South Americans. It was tit for tat in the second half which produced no goals, ending the game that left both ends with chances. The Colombians almost got an equalizer in the 87th minute when the Nigerian goal keeper intercepted a cross within the goal area. Reactions Congratulating the Falconets, the Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan in his fan page on Facebook said “By this victory the team has inspired an entire nation to believe that the best is yet to come in our football. I want to commend the falconets for a job well done. This is an unprecedented feat in African women's participation in the female World Cup.'' "I am extremely proud of the performance of our Junior Female National Football team, the Falconets, who yesterday moved into the final of the U-20 FIFA Women's World Cup by beating Colombia 1-0," wrote the President who had earlier banned the country from international football competition following the dismal outing of the Super Eagles at the World Cup in South Africa. Supporting the Nigerian President was Olayemi Ogunwole, an On Air Personality with one of the FM stations in the country's commercial capital, Lagos. "It was wonderful, even in the first half they defended the 1-0 to the end, I think they are hungry girls unlike the Super Eagles, and they have all the money so they are not too into what they are doing. What I can say is that what a man can not do, a woman can do it and even do better." Nigeria will now meet the host nation Germany on Sunday after defeating South Korea 5-1 in the semis Ogunwole expressed her confidence in the Falconets ahead of the German encounter saying "from the performance of the girls you can see that they are strong and I think they can do it. I am not predicting anything, am not octopus..."