By

Eniola Olatunji 

Nigeria’s Falconets will on Friday at 0200 hours at Estadio Metropolitanio Techo in Bogota meet Japan in the Round of 16 matches. 

Nigeria and Japan met thrice on 8th September 2012 when Nigeria lost 1-2; on 12th July 2010 when Nigeria won 2-1 and 13th November 2016 that Japan whipped Nigeria 6-0.

Nigeria piped South Korea by a lone goal; submitted to Germany 1-3 and outwitted Venezuela 4-0 in the group games.

Nigeria had beaten Haiti by a lone goal; drew 1-1 with China PR; lost 1-2 to Spain; lost by a lone goal to France; beat Canada 3-1 in the 2022 games and lost 0-2 to Netherlands also in the 2022 games. 

The Falconets of Nigeria has been in all the eleven tournaments losing in the finals to hosts Germany in 2010 by 2-0; lost the finals again to Germany in 2014 by a lone goal after extra time; lost the Bronze to Japan by 2-1 when Japan hosted in 2012. Nigeria lost to Germany on the two occasions she was Runners-up. Nigeria was stopped 5 times at the quarterfinal stages whereas no other African Country reached the quarterfinal. Nigeria’s Falconets won Gold at the 2019 All African Games Football.

Nigeria had beaten South Korea 2-0 on 19th August 2012; beaten the South Koreans on 9th August 2014 and piped their opponents by a lone goal on 14th August 2022.

Japan in the group matches of group E defeated New Zealand 7-0; beat Ghana 4-1 and unsettled Austria 2-0. 

Japan tutored Vietnam 10-0 on 4th March 2024; beat China PR 2-0 on 7th March 2024; lost by a lone goal to DPR Korea on 10th March 2024; whipped Australia 5-1 on 13th March 2024 and lost again to to DPR Korea 1-2 on 16th March 2024.

The Young Nadeshiko of Japan is in their 7th appearances at the world cup won the title at France 2018 beating Spain 2-1; hosted the games in 2012 and won the Bronze defeating Nigeria 2-1; won the Bronze again at Papua New Guinea in 2016 beating USA by a lone goal and at the last games at Costa Rica 2022 she lost in the finals 1-3 to Spain. 

On current performance, Japan looks good to beat Nigeria having scored 13 goals and conceded only one goal meaning the defence is solid and the attack is lethal. Nigeria scored 6 goals conceding 3 meaning the defence is slippery and the attack is not clinical in front of goal. The summary and truth is that Japan is far more technical than Nigeria but the world knows that whether against Nigerian males or females, never celebrate until after the last whistle.

The might of both teams at taking penalties is not yet known but we have reached the stages that penalty shootouts may decide the fate of teams.

Nigerians are more passionate with football and to them the bulk of mostly local players on parade can surprise any team in the tournament as the nation football pundits argue that the 3-1 bashing by Germany was a huge mistake.

The truth is that 90 minutes stands between Falconets of Nigeria to scale the Japanese hurdle into the quarterfinals where if the African Champions win she might face Spain.  

The Knock-out stages begin with the Round of 16 matches on Wednesday 11th September with Spain taking on Canada at 2230 hours in Cali while at the same time and date; Brazil will play samba game with Cameroon at Bogota.

On Thursday 12th September at 0200 hours Nigerian morning, hosts Columbia will play the never say tired South Korean girls at Cali and on that date and time Yankee Babes will tackle fellow Continental team of Mexico at Bogota.

Same Thursday at 2230 hours North Korea and Austria will size each other up at Medellin while same time, the German Machine will be in operation against Argentina at Bogota.

The Falconets have a difficult task to dismantle the high tech Japanese team on Friday 13th September at 0200 hours at Medellin while two European nations France and Netherlands will clash at the same time at Medellin to conclude the Round of 16 matches.