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Nigeria’s U20 girls, Falconets expect to pick their ticket to the 2022 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica when they host their counterparts from Senegal in Benin City on Saturday.
Forward Flourish Sebastine hit a hat-trick in the first leg before the home team earned and put away a penalty in the final seconds, for a 3-1 victory for Nigeria. The Falconets have finished as runners-up at two editions of the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup, in 2010 and 2014, and reached the semi finals in 2012.
The Senegalese delegation arrived in Nigeria on Thursday morning, and would be flown to Benin City on Friday. Saturday’s match at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium will kick off at 4pm.
To reach this final stage, the Falconets turned back their counterparts from Central African Republic 11-0 on aggregate, before beating Republic of Congo 4-0 in Brazzaville in a third round, first leg match. The result discouraged the Congolese from flying to Nigeria for the second leg.
In the fourth round, the Falconets unplugged Cameroon’s Young Lionesses 3-0 on aggregate.
Meanwhile, the Confederation of African Football has appointed officials from Eswatini to take charge of Saturday’s encounter. Letticia Antonella Viana will be referee, with compatriots Cosma Nxumalo (assistant referee 1), Patricia Mkhaliph (assistant referee 2) and Rebeccah Tencwala Soko (fourth official) also involved. The match commissioner will be Aisha Nalule from Uganda.
