Nigeria’s U20 women’s team, the Falconets, who arrived in the Colombian capital city of Bogota on Sunday, will play two friendly matches as part of their final phase of preparation for the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup scheduled to kick off on August 31 in the South American nation.
The two-time silver medallists will take on Australia and Mexico in pre-tournament warmup friendlies on August 23 and August 26, respectively, the Nigeria Football Federation revealed on Monday.
The Falconets were warmly welcomed to Colombia over the weekend with a colourful reception that included traditional dancers, flag-waving enthusiasts, and members of the Local Organising Committee of the Women’s World Cup.
According to reports, the Christopher Danjuma-led side had a light training session on Monday, with more intense sessions set to commence on Tuesday as they continue their hunt for a first-ever title in the tournament.
Nigeria will be making history at the tournament alongside the United States, Brazil, and Germany as the four countries to have played in every edition of the tournament since it was launched as an U19 event in Canada in 2002.
Meanwhile, Mexico will be featuring in the competition for the 10th time, having missed one previous edition.
This year’s edition of the U20 Women’s World Cup will be a bit different, as for the first time ever, 24 countries will be competing for the title, with eleven nations naming their debut. These are Austria, Chile, Chinese Taipei, Denmark, Fiji, Haiti, Papua New Guinea, Poland, Thailand, Cameroon, and Morocco.
The tournament is scheduled to run from August 31 to September 22, with Nigeria drawn in Group D with Germany, the Korea Republic, and Venezuela.
They will face South Korea in their opening game in the early hours of September 2nd, before taking on Germany two days later, and then finally, Venezuela on September 7th.
FIFA U20 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP FULL GROUPS
GROUP A: Colombia, Australia, Cameroon, Mexico
GROUP B: France, Canada, Brazil, Fiji
GROUP C: Spain, USA, Paraguay, Morocco
GROUP D: Germany, Venezuela, Nigeria, Korea Republic
GROUP E: Japan, New Zealand, Ghana, Austria
GROUP F: Korea DPR, Argentina, Costa Rica, The Netherlands
