A late wonder strike from Esther Onyenezide earned Nigeria’s Falconets a hard fought 1-0 win against South Korea in their second Group C game at the FIFA U-20 women’s World Cup in Sunday.
With the tight contest heading for a goalless draw, Onyenezide got the winner to secure the Falconets’ second win of the tournament.
It is now a third consecutive win for the Falconets against South Korea in the history of the U-20 women’s World Cup.
The coach Christopher Danjuma-tutored side will face Canada in their final group game on Wednesday by 3am Nigerian time.
Just like the their first game against France, the Falconets saw their fixture versus South Korea billed to kickoff at 9pm shifted to 10.15pm due to heavy rain.
The game eventually commenced with the Falconets creating the first attempt on goal in the third minute through Bashirat Amoo, who tried a long range effort from a free kick but was calmly saved by keeper Kim Kyeong-Hee.
Four minutes later South Korea went close but
Chun Ga-Ram’s effort went wide.
In the 22nd minute the Koreans went on the attack again with Lee Soo-In hitting a long range strike but the ball hit woodwork.
With four minutes left in the first half, Amoo made an ambitious long range strike which went off target.
Five minutes into the second half Onyenezide tried a long cross into the area on the back of a pouring attack but South Korea keeper rose high to claim the ball.
Just three minutes later Onyenezide forced the Korean keeper to a save with her superb long range effort.
In the 64th minute Korea went close but Oyono made a superb diving save to palm a shot destined for the top corner away for a corner.
And in the 82nd minute the goal finally came thanks to a brilliant long range strike from Onyenezide which flew past the Korean keeper and nestled into the back of the net.
The Koreans pour forward for the equalizer but could not break down a resilient Falconets defence.