Moses Aduku, head coach of Nigeria’s U20 women’s national team, the Falconets, has assured that his side will fire on all cylinders when they face New Caledonia at Stadion Miejski LKS Łódź on Sunday.
The debutants sit at the bottom of Group F after heavy defeats by China and Spain, losing 5-0 and 11-0 respectively. They have no points and a goal difference of minus 16.
Despite New Caledonia’s poor results, Aduku said Nigeria would not underestimate their opponents.
“The results in their last two matches notwithstanding, we will not underrate our opponents. I am happy because the girls are in good spirits and ready to go, and there are no injuries in our camp as I speak,” Aduku said.
Nigeria, who have one point from their goalless draw with China on Thursday, know they must produce a convincing victory to keep their hopes of reaching the Round of 16 alive.
“We all know the implication of our not scoring goals on Sunday, so we will go in there and focus on scoring goals to stand a chance of reaching the next round. We cannot afford to go back home now,” he added.
The Falconets need a sizeable victory to improve their goal difference and give themselves a chance of advancing, regardless of the outcome of the other Group F match between Spain and China.
With qualification likely to be decided by goal difference, Aduku’s side face the dual challenge of securing maximum points while scoring as many goals as possible against the debutants.
