By Emmanuel Okogba
Flourish Sabastine scored in the 85th minute what turned out to be the match winner in Nigeria’s opening game of the U-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica.
The Falconets and the French team pushed and cancelled each other out and it was only expected that one opportunity could prove the decider.
The game was initially suspended in the 20th minute due to heavy downpour but that didn’t dampen the spirit of Christopher Danjuma Musa and his ladies as they picked up from where they stopped at resumption of proceedings.
France had a goal resulting from a corner-kick ruled out for fouling Nigeria’s goalkeeper Omini Oyono in the process of trying to score after VAR consultation by Mexican referee Francia Gonzalez.
Two-time finalists, Nigeria will head into their next game against South Korea on Sunday in high spirits bolstered by the three points taken from the Europeans.
