Nigeria is in the quarter finals of the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup on –going in Germany after the Falconets finished 1-1 with their Mexican counterparts in Bochum on Wednesday afternoon.

Ebere Orji scored from a corner kick after 16 miniutes but the Mexicans equalized also through a corner kick with only 12 minutes left and it took some spirited defending for the Nigerian girls to avoid the unimaginable.

As was the pattern in their first two matches, the Falconets created far more opportunities than their opponents, but poor marksmanship robbed them of more goals.

The Falconets’ reward for a place in the last eight is a potentially -explosive date with cup holder, United States of America. That match comes up in Augsburg on Sunday evening. The USA won the last competition staged in Chile by beating North Korea in the final in Santiago, while the Falconets crashed out in the quarter finals after a narrow defeat by France.

France has gone home from the on –going championship – just like Brazil, a team that reached the semi finals of the first three competitions between 2002 and 2006. On Sunday, the Nigerian girls will aim to become the first team to stop the USA from reaching the semi finals of the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup since the tournament was launched in Canada eight years ago.

If they are able to defeat the Americans on the now familiar Augsburg Stadium, the Nigerian girls will look forward to a semi finals against either of Sweden and Colombia.