Coach Christopher Musa Danjuma has expressed confidence in his Nigeria U20 girls as the ever-present Falconets intensify preparations for this year’s FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup finals taking place in Colombia, 31st August – 22nd September.
The two-time silver medallists will contend with Germany, Venezuela and Korea Republic in Group D of the first tournament to welcome 24 teams, an increase from the 16 teams that featured at the last tournament in the Central American nation of Costa Rica, with their matches in the Colombian capital, Bogotá and Cali.
“The girls have been working very hard, and I am delighted at the level of improvement I have seen in the squad. There is greater understanding and ambition to accomplish. At an individual level, they continue to grow and show their determination to excel with focus on the larger picture.
“We must be very ready from the first blast of the referee’s whistle in Colombia, as there will not be many minutes to make mistakes and adjust against Korea Republic and Germany. Those two games will be key to our progress to the knockout rounds. We also cannot afford to under-rate Venezuela – they went through the qualifying rounds. The import is that we must bring our ‘A’ game to the party in all three matches.”
FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand superstar Salma Paralluelo of Spain, Brazil’s Marta, USA’s Megan Rapinoe and Nigeria’s perennial African Player of the Year Asisat Oshoala are among women football stars to have graced the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup.
Read Also: Paris 2024 Women’s Basketball: Nigeria’s D’Tigress Fall 75-54 To France
Oshoala was the top scorer when the Falconets reached the final of the championship in Canada 10 years ago, losing narrowly to Germany.
With the field expanded to 24, Africa now has four flag-bearers (Nigeria, Morocco, Cameroon and Ghana this time). Matches will take place in four venues in three different cities (Bogotá, Medellín and Cali). There will be two venues in Bogotá – Estadio El Campín and Estadio El Techo. The Estadio Atanasio Girardot in Medellín and the Estadio Pascual Guerrero in Cali are the other venues.
The 13th African Games runners-up have won a string of friendly games in their ongoing first phase of final camping in Abuja, losing only to the Roma Academy U17 boys. They have had the upper hand against an FCT Selected side, Horvel U16 team and lately, Honey Badgers of Makurdi. They will fly out of the country in 17 days for a two-week final camping programme in Colombia, before their first match of the tournament against Korea Republic in Bogotá on the first day of September.
Other matches are against Germany (also inside the El Techo Stadium in Bogotá) on Wednesday, 4th September, and against Venezuela in Cali three days later.
Nigeria also reached the final of the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in 2010, losing to host nation Germany. Four years later, the Falconets made the semi-finals in Japan.
Got what it Takes?
Predict and Win Millions Now
33 Comments
If you don’t have a proven goal scorer better go and find one by all means. Don’t be like the Falcons.
Goals win matches.BEFORE we expect too much from you. When last did you attend a training course.on tactics home and abroad?
Our local coaches has never had scoring issues. Danjuma is not a stranger to this challenge because he has led the team to silver place before. Give this team to Waldrum and they’ll exit the tournament with zero goal.
Our local coaches has never had scoring issues….LMAOoo. No wonder they struggled to win games at the World Cup and couldnt qualify for the Olympics for 16 years….LMAoooo
Danjuma has led the team to silver place at the U20 FWWC before, the same way Ethiopia has become a superpower in African women’s football that even South Africa couldn’t withstand them ey…..? LMAOOoo
Please help us tell your local coaches that we need to be doing better at Senior Level on the world stage than we do with out U-teams. Tell them to please do something about it. The teams we beat at U17 and U20 levels always eat us for breakfast when we get to the senior world cup, be it men or women.
I think you have memory issues that is why you forgot that 90% of SF accomplishments was by local coaches and requires goals. I also need you to avoid my comments because I don’t want to continue on a path of rebelliousness just because I have to react to your temptations. Stay away from my thread stay clear I have nothing in common with you. My salvation is too expensive for this cheap exchanges with an object of sin. Please stay away else the rod of God will befall you if you try to be a tool the devil uses to take abusive words out of my mouth to cause me to sin. When it comes to insults or abusive words you’re not close but I’m done with pleasing your master so stay out of my path and continue in your self destruction. CS I will quit this forum if you don’t weed the scornful!!!!
It possible it your outright brainlessness that made you forget that you so-called 90% of accomplishments where when only Ghana could match Nigeria in Africa….LMAOoo.
Since the likes of South Africa, Cameroon, Cotedivoire, Equitorial Guinea, Morroco and their likes emerged, your 6-0, 8-0 goals have dried up and you couldn’t qualify for the Olympics for 16 years….LMAOoo…until Waldrum came to give people like you the opportunity to watch our falcons play Olympics games football in your lifetime.
Useless idiot.
Who are you threatening with quitting the forum….? Does CSN owe you anything…LMAOoo. Go to hell and never return.
Go and tell your zulezoo friend who cooks-up stories for free, that we are still waiting for his rebuttal to the fact-based reply I shut his rotten teeth filled mouth with.
Useless idiot. for the last 2-3 weeks my name has been the sweetest thing in your mouth, such that a day would not pass without you mentioning it in your nonsensical vomits on this forum.
Sensless animal even went as far as claiming he will fight me spiritually. Any fool that opposed Dr.Drey (no matter how stupidly) instantly became your friend and ally.
It is now you remember you have salvation to pursue.
Dont worry, na fight you wan fight kwa…? I will pursue you and you fake salvation till I hear you have been cremated in the deepest parts of hell.
@Chima, you’d be best counseled to ignore the IGNORANT Agbero Witchdoctor…
I had some free time yesterday (because unlike him some of us actually have jobs and a life outside of local Internet sites…LOL!) and put him in his place. Nonetheless, realizing his usual fare of crass and CHILDISH personal insults merely betrays his lack of any substantive points and of a CRUDE family upbringing, I have since resolved to move on. Let the tout shout himself hoarse.
You put me in my place with those lies you cooked up to fool the entire world that “….Daniel Daga was called up to the U17 Eaglets camp. However, after one practice match against the U20 Flying Eagles, coach Ladan Bosso promptly “promoted” him to the Flying Eagles for the then imminent WAFU U20 Cup. The rest, as they say, is history!….”…..LMAOOo.
Daniel Daga was called up to the U17s when he was already in Niger republic with the U20s for well up to 5 weeks before the U17s even opened for screening….LMAOoo.
What a shameless simpleton….LMAOoo
They never have “free” time once Dr.Drey has delivered a sucker punch in their leprous faces with facts and hard evidence….LMAOooo.
Birds of the same feather truly flock together….LMAOooo
Do I hear crickets? LMAOOOO…
Hahahahaha…of course you will hear crickets.
Crickets is what you first thing you hear when regaining consciousness after you have been knocked out stone cold with a sucker punch.
Mr “let me tell you for free”…..LMAOoo.
Mr “I can tell you for a fact”….LMAOoo.
Puffing up his chest like a gorilla on heat over a cheap piece of lie…LMAOoo.
Just 2 news reports from reputable Nigerian sports dailies sent the cheap liar sprawling into the dust with tails between his dumb ignorant ass….LMAOoo.
His pride really went before a fall…..LMAOooo.
Came back 24hrs later to claim he didn’t have free time….LMAOoo
May you never be free from the shackles of your ignorance and arrogance.
Please don’t go back to read that Daga Norway Deal thread again ehn, so that you will not suffer a traumatic relapse….LMAOoo.
2nd week running the “witch doctor” is sending him home with sand in his mouth…..LMAOoo
Crick…crick…crickets…LMAO
@Chima E Samuels.Have you forgotten you have abused people severally for fun here?People who were civil,you picked on them with grevious abusive remarks,verbal assaults and unnecesary aggression.How did you forget that?
Apparently,people that have salvation should lead by example even in a forum!
Hahahahaha…..he just suddenly remembered he has salvation to chase….LMAOoo.
Even salvation is looking at the idiot and shaking its head. Because it knows whatever he is currently high on would soon wear off and his true character will re-emerge again.
@9jaRealist I’m honestly done there’s more to life than fraternising with someone who doesn’t have moral values or regard to his creator. I have nothing against him but I will never find myself eating from the plate of carnality alongside him. I refused to do that because my salvation is too expensive for such cheap trap.
@Greenturf: you’re right and I accept my blame for such utterances. It is God who I owe my sorry to and I have tendered my apologies to him. Even NFF that I have been throwing stones on I also tender my apology. And to all who I have reacted aggressively to wrongfully or rightly because some people can really force you to say things I am also sorry.
To the scornful I leave your judgment to God because as I repeat it will be cheap for anyone to trade his salvation by replying you in equal measure henceforth. I cease to allow myself to be superior over the conviction of God. Salvation is personal I respect mine and recognise it. I don’t expect anyone to do it for me because not everyone fear God so I don’t expect everyone to affirm. God bless us all for we wrestle not against flesh.
Bro, most Nigerian female underage teams I’ve seen are like that flashy sports car with no brakes—looks good, moves fast, but eventually crashes when the road gets tricky! Sure, they rack up double-digit goals against African opposition, but that’s about as impressive as dunking on a toddler. Many African countries still treat female football like it’s an afterthought, especially at junior levels, so yeah, we dominate. But then comes the big stage—FIFA competitions—where we face teams with coaches who actually know what a game plan is, and suddenly, our girls look like they’re running through mud.
Remember the Falconets a decade ago? We should’ve sent Germany packing in that FIFA U20 Women’s Championship. Sure, the referee might’ve been on Germany’s payroll (just kidding, I hope), but even without that, a tactically astute coach would have seen us through. And don’t get me started on 2010, when we dazzled against Colombia only to lose our way later. Our players are top-notch—technical, strong, and athletic—but throw them against a team with a coach who has more than one page in their playbook, and it’s game over. Honestly, with the talent we have, we should have at least one trophy in each underage category of FIFA competitions. But no, we’re too busy playing musical chairs with our coaches, hoping one of them eventually figures out how to win consistently.
And then there’s Danjuma—he’s about as exciting as a flat soda. If you’re expecting him to bring something new to the table, you might as well be waiting for Nigeria to adopt a 6G network. It’s just not happening anytime soon. He’s cut from the same cloth as Okon and Bala—predictable, uninspiring, and almost guaranteed to disappoint when it matters most.
Now, Olowookere, the U17 coach, gives me a glimmer of hope. His team looks a bit more polished, a bit more sophisticated than Danjuma’s. But let’s not pop the champagne just yet. I’ve been let down before. So, while I’m cautiously optimistic, I’m also keeping my expectations low. After all, we’ve seen how this movie ends before—promising start, spectacular crash. Here’s hoping Olowookere breaks the mold and finally gives us something to cheer about.
_ It Is Semi-finals Or Burst for Danjuma _
Coach Chris Danjuma has a lot of grounds to make up. So, for me, he has to start putting results that represent tangible improvements where is mouth is.
“The import is that we must bring our ‘A’ game to the party in all three group stage matches in the U-20 World Cup in Columbia this Summer,” stated Coach Danjuma RECENTLY.
This will be the 3rd U-20 Women’s World Cup in 6 years that Danjuma will be shepherding the Super Falconets into. Whilst he proved adept at navigating the group stages emphatically and compellingly in the last 2 episodes, it is the quarter finals that the wheels fall off spectacularly.
In 2018, he stood tall against China and Haiti whilst only yielding very narrowly to Germany in the group stages. But his girls would be tossed aside in the quarter-final against Spain despite parading fantastic players like Nnadozie, Gift Monday, Ajibade, Ucheibe, Efih, Okeke and Ogbonna.
In 2022, his Falconets were simply and utterly brilliant in the group stages as they proved unplayable to heavyweight France, Canada and South Korea to bag all 9 points on offer. Yet again, shockingly, it would all unravel in the quarter-finals as the team was humbled by Holland despite Nigeria again parading heavyweights of under 20 football like Mercy Idoko, Alani, Demehin, Sebastian, Oyenedize, Imuran and Deborah Abiodun. I kid you not, under a more competent coach, the last Super Falconets side was a tournament winning squad.
Yet Chris Danjuma burnt my retina to tears as he came in the knock out stages, again!
To make matters worse, in recent seasons, he has failed to win the U-20 WAFU Cup and Africa Games Gold, coming second on both occasions after fabulous and barnstorming group stage outings.
So, I am back to where I begun – nothing but a semi-final slot would raise the profile of Chris Danjuma in my eyes beyond a decent coach who assembles fabulous players only to fail to mastermind tournament success with the same players based on faulty tactical methods when it matters the most.
In short, Danjuma has bottled it when it matters the most in later stages of tournaments. It high time he sheds this bottling image and don a pericalp of an accomplished coach with savvy, composed and compelling tactical injections to cross over the finish line.
It is not how you start but how strongly you finish the tournament as a coach that would go down well in the annals of tournament history.
Remind me again.
Was it not Danjuma who was coach when CIV eliminated Nigeria from the 2020 Olympics as early as the 3rd round….?
Let’s all just agree that unless he has gone for some real tactical schooling of recent, his tactical capacity isn’t the stuff of the class of coaches we can even refer to as average coaches.
@deo, rather get to the latter stages and supposedly “bottle” it (after all, only ONE team will not “bottle” in the end) than show up and “bottle” 3 group stage games…
Hahahaha…As if we have been doing better than 3 group stage and 1 knockout game at both the olympics and the WC since we’ve been participating over 3 decades ago….LMAOoo
Better bottle 3 group stage games at the olympics vs current and former world champions than not even qualify at all for 16 straight years from Africa…..LMAOoo
….And thanks to JUSTIN MADUGU for starting us on our merry way to Olympics qualification for the first time in 16 years (before the 0-0 ‘nail biters’ came along)….LMAOOOO!!
Would’ve have hated to see a 0-0 draw versus Ethiopia and praying to get through on PKs (a likely losing scenario seeing how poorly we’ve fared on PK shootouts under Coach Randy)…LOL!!
Hahaha! Dr Drey will crack my ribs o
“his tactical capacity isn’t the stuff of the class of coaches we can even refer to as average coaches.”
Come on 9jaRealist,
Should we not expect our coaches to improve themselves?
Bosso is an accomplished Under-20 world cup quarter-finalist and incurable semi-finalist in Under-20 Afcons.
Danjuma is an accomplished Under-20 female World Cup quarter-finalist and a chronic finalist in continental Under-20 Women’s tournament.
Is that the summit of your ambitions for these teams?
I thought I was the only one accused of lacking ambition for our national teams.
@deo, and what is “the summit of your ambitions” for the Super Falcons – seeing as we have REGRESSED from perennial WAFCON champions to not even getting the bronze medal?! SMH
Like I said, at the end of EVERY competition only ONE team will win, no matter how good (or “summit of their ambitions”) the other teams are. So, just because Danjuma hadn’t won the WC is NOT necessarily an indictment.
9jaRealist,
You know what your problem is: you are not always able to grasp the central theme of an argument.
In the current landscape of African women’s football, my minimum requirement for the Super Falcons will be at least Afcon semi-finals, something we achieved recently.
Back to my original thread that you gatecrashed with your distraction comment. Danjuma is showing a trend of raising hopes early in tournaments only to dash the same hope with performances that prove to be damp squibs when it mattered the most.
Ghanian coach out-thought, out-smarted and out-foxed him in two finals within 12 months: Wafu Under-20 final and Africa Games Final.
He started well in group stages and faded badly in quarter final in 2 Under-20 world cups.
Now, MY QUESTION STANDS:is that the summit of your ambitions for the Super Falconets?
What has the Super Falcons got to do with anything? Why do you like to lead yourself into the rabbit hole of confusion?
@deo, seem the “summit of your ambitions” is actually LOWER than mine….LOL!
Because my own “minimum” ambition for the Super Falcons at WAFCON would be to WIN – something btw that our supposedly ‘incompetent’ coaches like Okon, Omagbemi, Eucharia Uche, etc. have all achieved – and I distinctly recall Florence Omagbemi winning the trophy even though the NFF failed to pay her throughout her tenure, even when her father passed away in the midst of preparations.
Anyway, I see that you want to be clever by half (LOL!) and make so-called “current landscape” excuses for your Oyinbo Idol, but somehow forgot to extend the same to the likes of Finidi or Eguavoen, given the “current landscape” of African men’s (or even youth) football. SMH
9jaRealist,
You are a funny man who is hardly on point.
Where in all my entries on this particular tread have I made excuses for Randy Waldrum?
Okay, the summit of your ambitions is for Super Falcons to win every Wafcon, much the same way USA has won all women’s world cup or Germany has won all women’s Euros.
So Ghana, Cameroon, South Africa and Morocco, some of whom have more competent Football Associations, will just sit by and watch you win all the Wafcon tournaments until eternity?
Where, in world football of repute does just 1 team win each and every continental tournament ’til perpetuity? Will football even be fun if that is the case? Even in the Golden era of the Super Falcons, we failed to win at least 2 Wafcons and failed to qualify for several Olympics.
So, based on how poorly our football is being managed coupled with other teams coming of age and the irrefutable fact that no 1 team wins every continental tournament, I HOPE YOU FEEL YOUR AMBITIONS FOR THE SUPER FALCONS TO WIN EACH AND EVERY AFCON IS STILL TENABLE.
Addressing the final paragraph of your entry, I can see how ignorant you are of my stance on local coaches. I have actually been accused of taking bribe to come here and promote local coaches.
You see I like Eguavoen, Finidi, Bosso and until recently Danjuma (I only recently disliked Danjuma based on those shameful and hurtful loses to Ghana in the Wafu Zone B U-20 final and Africa Games Final – any loss to Ghana is painful and personal). I wish our local coaches well but I am not blind to the difficulties placed on them by a corrupt system and their own tactical shortcomings.
BEST WISHES TO DANJUMA AND THE YOUNG LASSES…
His last U20 WC team played very well, including a very neat passing game and some fantastic attacking football, with a defense that shut out high-powered Germany and France (while barely conceding once in the group stage).
To cap it all, that team produced players who have already in less then 2 years found their foot in the Super Falcons’ squad (Demehin, Abiodun, Imuran, Onyenezide, and Alani), which ultimately is the goal of youth football.
9jaRealist, hahaha! hohoho! hehehe! I don laff tire.
So we have been reduced to celebrating whirlwind, meteoric group stage accomplishments that raised hopes quickly dashed in just the quarter finals, proving those group stage successes to be mere tactical smokescreens.
Anyway, I am glad I no longer have monopoly of being grateful for the crumbs that NFF has been feeding us in recent years.
I too celebrated Eguavoen handing us the Group Stages Trophy of the 2022 Afcon and emerging the Coach of the Group Stages. A covid ravaged Tunisia made sure that we would be celebrating nothing further.
So, well done Eguavoen for group stages trophy.
Well done Danjuma for Wafu and All Africa Games Silver and World Cup group stages trophy.
Well done Bosso for all those lovely quarter finals trophies.
Thanks Finidi for the wonderful 1 point against South Africa and Benin out of 6.
You are my guy jare 9jaRealist. It doesn’t take much to satisfy you and I.
@deo, abegi you forgot to “well done” the Super Falcons’ Olympics coach who got us a hasty 3-and-done 1-goal group stage exit….LMAO!
PS: Btw, can you remind us of how many victories we had in the WCQs before Finidi…LOL!
9jaRealist, again, you are climbing the ladder of my argument on the wrong wall.
I will leave you with this parting shot: several of our local coaches haven’t shown capacity to improve their tactical nous as evident from the output they produce, something which NFF’s shambolic handling of our football has exacerbated.
The only (slight) regret with this Falconets camping squad (apart from the inexplicable omission of Ajakaye – that is, ‘inexplicable’ if she’s not injured) is the failure to call-up and evaluate a top prospect like JOY OKONYE (born and raised in Lagos but who got to the US through the Right to Dream Academy Ghana), who’s been doing very well in the US collegiate system – and looks like could well be another Echegini.
GOOD LUCK TO DANJUMA AND HIS CHARGES!!
Your follow up on grassroot sports is commendable coz it takes so much passion to dig deep on prospects that our national scouts and coaches shockingly don’t even know yet it’s clear for all see. This draws me back to how much more our u17 coaches or u20 coaches has turned blind to so many prospects from successful academies in Nigeria example is BLFA and their NNL runners up. Only to settle for strange players from unknown teams like yum yum and giant brila due to corrupt practices.