By Augustine Akhilomen
Nigeria’s Falconets could not salvage the much needed ticket to the quarter final of the FIFA U-20 World Cup as the team crashed out of the tournament despite beating Spain 2-1 in their last group B match on Sunday at the PNG Football Stadium.
Having lost their opening match to Japan 6-0, the team’s heaviest defeat at the tournament, they bounced back to winning ways, beating Canada 3-1 in their second match to keep hope of qualifying to the next round alive.
However, the Falconets shocked their Spanish counterpart 2-1 in their last group match despite going one man down after Glory Ogbonna picked up a second booking offence.
Alba Redondo gave the Spaniards the lead in the early minutes before Ihuoma Onyebuchi leveled the score with a low drive shot in the 12th minute of the encounter. It was the first goal Spain conceded after three hours.
The Nigerian side got the maximum points in the 72nd minute when Chinwendu Ihezuo scored a sublime goal but the goal was not enough to qualify them to the knockout stages. They finished third with six points, alongside Japan and Spain but goals difference of -3 crashed the team out.
