Aduku says Falconets ready to conquer

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Head coach Moses Aduku has assured that Nigeria’s Falconets will fire from all cylinders when they take on New Caledonia at the Stadion Miejski LKS Lodz on Sunday, in a must-win final Group F fixture at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

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The Falconets sit third in the standings on one point, having opened their campaign with a 2-0 defeat to Spain before playing out a goalless draw with China on Thursday.

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Nigeria must now win convincingly to overturn their negative goal difference and boost their chances of reaching the Round of 16, regardless of the outcome of the concurrent meeting between Spain and China.

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Aduku said his side would not underestimate their opponents despite New Caledonia’s results so far, adding that the squad remained in good spirits with no injury concerns ahead of the match.

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“The results in their last two matches notwithstanding, we will not under-rate 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,” he said.

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“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.”

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New Caledonia, debutants at the tournament, are bottom of the group without a point, having lost 5-0 to China and 11-0 to Spain. Their coach, Leon Waitronyie, said his side would approach the game with greater attacking ambition as they search for a first goal of the competition.

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“We need to play a little higher up the pitch and try to score a goal,” Waitronyie said.

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Spain lead Group F with six points, ahead of China on four, while Nigeria could still progress either as runners-up or through one of the four best third-place places across the six groups, depending on results elsewhere.

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