Nigeria’s U-20 women’s team, the Falconets, have set their sights on England after sealing a place in the Round of 16 of the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland with a commanding 10-1 victory over New Caledonia.
Player of the Match Ramotalahi Kareem was among the standout performers, scoring a hat-trick as the Falconets bounced back from a defeat to Spain and a goalless draw with China PR to finish second in Group F.
Kareem opened the scoring from the penalty spot after Tosin Rafiu won a penalty following a fine individual run.
Rebecca Adegbemile and Janet Akekoromowei then added headers before Kareem struck again to give Nigeria a comfortable advantage.
The Falconets continued their dominance after the break, with Kareem completing her hat-trick. Onajite David also scored three times, while Adegbemile added another to complete her brace. Rafiu rounded off Nigeria’s scoring with a spectacular effort from outside the box.
New Caledonia managed a consolation goal through Kourevi, who registered her first goal of the tournament with a long-range strike.
“We hope to achieve great things now that we’ve got through the group stage. I’m really pleased with my hat-trick. My job is to score goals and helping the team today made me happy. We’re ready for the match against England. We’ll prepare as well as we possibly can for the Round of 16 against a strong side,” Kareem said after the match.
The result lifted Nigeria to four points from three matches and secured their passage to the knockout stage as Group F runners-up, behind Spain, who maintained their perfect record with a 3-1 win over China.
The emphatic victory also gave the Falconets a significant boost in goal difference ahead of their next challenge.
Moses Aduku’s side will face England, winners of Group E, in the Round of 16 on Thursday.
