Nigeria booked their place in the quarter-finals of the U-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica with a 1-0 win over South Korea, but Ghana crashed out after a second defeat.
The Falconets’ Group C game was postponed for an hour after a storm hit the Alejandro Marrero Soto Stadium in Alajuela and the Nigerians withstood several first-half attacks from the Koreans to stay in the game.
Sweeney Lee’s free-kick lifted the West Africans’ left-hander before goalkeeper Kim Kyung-hee produced an acrobatic save to deny Esther Onyenezide from long range after the break.
But Onyenezide scored with a thunderous strike from outside the box in the 83rd minute, and excellent goalkeeper Omini Ayona helped Nigeria to a second 1-0 win to reach the quarter-finals.
“We are a giant in Africa and we are not afraid of another team,” said player of the match Onyeneside.
“We’ve been training incredibly hard and if you look back at qualifying, we have every right to be confident here, wherever we play. We want to show the world that we are not only great in African conditions, but can beat any other team.”
The Falconets, who lost the 2010 and 2014 tournament finals to Germany, started with a 1-0 win over France and face already eliminated Canada in the final group game on Thursday.
Ghana – the other African team in the tournament – suffered another defeat in Group D after losing 2-0 to Japan.
Young Nadeshiko bombed their opponents for most of the match and should have won by a bigger margin in a game that was delayed due to torrential rain.
The Black Princesses, who looked frail in defence, hit the nail on the head in the 61st minute when they conceded a penalty for handball by Mike Hamano.
Hamano scored another penalty nine minutes after Anastasia Achiao fouled Kokone Iwasaki in the box.
Ghana, who have never made it past the group stage of the tournament in their previous five matches, will conclude their campaign against the Netherlands on Thursday.
