Japan caused Falconets W-Cup ouster —Dedevbo

Nigeria coach, Peter Dedevbo, has said the 0-6 defeat the Falconets suffered at the hands of The Young Nadeshiko of Japan led to the team’s ouster from the ongoing FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Papua New Guinea.

The Falconets had after the humiliation in the group opener, come back to defeat Canada 3-1 and Spain 2-1 to finish third on the table with six points, same as Japan and Spain, but bowed out on minus three goals difference.

Alba Redondo had last Sunday put the Spaniards ahead in the seventh minute at the PNG Football Stadium, Port Moresby before Ihuoma Onyebuchi equalised for the Falconets in the 12th minute, while Chinwendu Ihezuo who captained on the day secured the winner for the Africans in the 72nd minute.

However, Nigeria’s joy of victory was shortlived as Japan also trounced Canada 5-0 in another group game as a draw would have seen Nigeria through.

“In the first match against Japan, we lost 6-0. That defeat is very painful because it cost us qualification to the next round.

“When you lose the first match in a competition, you have to work very hard to get back in the saddle. You need to win, and that’s what we did.

“After the first game, we told the players they absolutely had to win the next two matches, and that message went over well. We tried to score as many goals as possible, but it wasn’t enough to keep us in the tournament,” Dedevbo told FIFA.com.

He noted that his players derived some positives from the competition despite not going far adding: “They know now that the first match is the most important in the whole tournament because it sets the tone for the rest. When you lose the first game, it’s difficult to get back in the running.”

The man who coached Nigeria to finish second at the last edition in 2014 believes given the performance of his team at PNG 2016, they would not be condemned outright by Nigerians.

“They (my players) were pleased to have won {against Spain} because nobody will be disappointed with our performance when we return home. We still managed to win two matches,” Dedevbo, who expressed sadness at the early ouster of the Falconets said adding: “That’s true, because I hadn’t foreseen us getting knocked out. We wanted to go far in this tournament”.