Nigeria’s Falconets beat France 1-0 on Friday in Group D’s opening match at the 2022 U-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica.
The Falconets, who are two-time runners-up in the competition, overcame torrential rain, an hour delay to defeat Europe’s top team, France.
The only goal was scored at the 85th minute into the second half of the match by Falconets’ Flourish Sabastine.
The Falconets had to scale the hurdles presented by Central African Republic, Congo, Cameroon and Senegal, winning six of seven matches (they only drew with Cameroon in Douala) to be eligible to fly Africa’s flag once more at the finals in Central America.
All group phase and quarter-final matches will be played at the Alejandro Morera Soto, which is a hybrid of natural and synthetic grass called stitched grass.
The semi-final, final and third place matches will take place at the Estadio Nacional.
Falconets next game is on Sunday against South Korea.