Five takeaways from Nigeria Falconets’ tough loss to Germany at U20 Women’s World Cup

Nigeria’s Falconets stumbled to a tough 3-1 loss to Germany in their matchday two Group D clash at the ongoing FIFA U20 Women’s U20 World Cup in Colombia in the early hours of Thursday, Soccernet.ng reports.

Here are the five takeaways from the encounter.

Germany are Nigeria’s biggest nemesis

It appears no matter how hard Nigeria try, the Falconets can never get the better of the Germans at the U20 World Cup.

Thursday’s defeat is Nigeria’s fourth in a row at the hands of Germany at the tournament, and the first time the Falconets will concede three goals against the European giants. No other team has beaten Nigeria more times. 

This particular loss is hard to take as the West Africans had enough chances to carve out a positive result but Chris Danjuma’s girls will rue those missed opportunities.

On a brighter note, Chiamaka Okuchukwu’s second-half strike is the first goal Nigeria will score in the last four encounters against the Germans.

The Falconets are too wasteful to be genuine title contenders

Coach Danjuma has repeatedly backed his girls to possess the quality to win the U20 World Cup for the first time in the country’s history.

And there is no denying that the Falconets have energy, togetherness and determination in abundance.

What the Falconets, however have in short supply is the ability to stick the ball into the net.

For all of Germany’s initial dominance, Nigeria should have been two goals up by the time the former champions found the game’s opener.

After falling behind, Nigeria still had clear chances to turn the match around before the halftime break.

Even Okuchukwu’s equaliser came from a mix-up in the German defence and not from any spectacular Nigerian team move.

The Falconets have to do better in front of goal to stand any chance of making it to the latter stages of this tournament.

The two fullbacks are the team’s weakest links

Nigeria’s right-back Jumoke Alani and her teammate on the opposite flank Oluchi Ohaegbulem did not cover themselves in glory in this encounter.

Alani was at fault for the first goal Nigeria conceded while Ohaegbulem should bear more of the blame for Germany’s two second-half goals.

They were easy to dribble past, had trouble picking up German runners in the back post, and allowed crosses to fly into the Nigeria box freely.