Nigeria’s Under 20 women football team, the Falconets on Monday booked their ticket into the quarter finals of the ongoing 9th edition of the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) U-20 World Cup being hosted by France.

The Nigerian girls had lost their opening Group D match to Germany, courtesy of a lone strike by Sanders and beat debutants, Haiti by the same margin in their second match.

On the other hand, the Chinese had triumphed over the Haitians 2-1 and lost their second game to Germany by two unreplied goals.

The Falconets needed just a draw in their group game to make it past the group stage but the Chinese had other ideas, taking the lead in the 44th minute of the match through Linyan Zhang who breezed past two defenders before coolly slotting the ball into goalkeeper Nnadozie’s net.

The second half resumed with the Chinese girls threatening to increase the tally the but the Falconets stood firm even as all their attempts to equalize were thwarted by the Chinese defence.

It was not until the 95th minute that the Nigerians got the much elusive goal through Ruth Ajibade, a goal that sent them through to the next round via superior goals difference.

They will now face Spain who finished tops ahead of Japan in Group C in the round of 16 fixture on Thursday next week.