The Super Falcons of Nigeria have set the sights on qualifying for the quarter-finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France for the second time ever. Following a 3-0 loss to Norway, the Nigerian side knew that a loss to South Korea would jeopardise their qualification for the next round.

On Wednesday, the Super Falcons did as expected to defeat the Asians 2-0 to brighten their chances of making it to the next round. This will however be possible if the African champions could get one point from their last group match against host nation France on Monday at 8 pm.

  According to FIFA, four third place finishers from the six groups will qualify, meaning three points could well be enough to see the Super Falcons through to the knockout rounds for the first time since 1999, when they reached the quarter-finals in the US even if they fail to beat France. Speaking after the game against South Korea, Thomas Dennerby believed his team can get better of the French ladies in the next game, if they replicate the form they showed against the Asians.

 “The players followed our match plan and that’s all you can really ask. Now we go to play France, a really good team. If we can come out with a point everyone would be extremely happy. “But you can’t just go to defend – you need to know what to do when you win the ball back. And hopefully, we can have a little bit of success,” he said. It will be recalled that the Falcons friendly match against the Les Blues in April 2018 ended in disaster for the Nigerian girls as Dennerby recorded the biggest defeat in his career, losing 8-0.

The defeat also equaled the Falcons heaviest defeats suffered in international football since 1995. It will be noted that since the Women’s World Cup was founded in 1991, no African country has won their second group game, when the Super Falcons beat South Korea 2-0 and they are the first African team to reach the quarter finals of a World Cup.