Nigeria’s Falconets suffered a heartbreaking exit from the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup on Sunday after Valerin Loboa scored in the second minute of stoppage time to give Colombia a 1-0 quarter-final victory in Łódź, Poland.
The Falconets had held Colombia at bay for almost the entire contest and created opportunities of their own, but their failure to convert those chances ultimately proved costly as Loboa struck in the 90+2nd minute to send the South Americans into the semi-finals.
Nigeria threatened early, with Tosin Rafiu testing Colombia goalkeeper Luisa Agudelo in the 19th minute. Her effort from distance was touched onto the crossbar, while Tumininu Adeshina also forced Agudelo into action with another long-range attempt before half-time.
The Falconets continued to compete for the breakthrough after the interval, but their task became considerably more difficult in the 77th minute when Kafayat Mafisere was shown a red card for a challenge on Samantha Rodríguez. VAR subsequently confirmed the dismissal, leaving Nigeria to play the closing stages with 10 players.
Colombia took greater control after the dismissal, although Nigeria continued to defend resolutely and appeared set to force extra time.
That hope disappeared in the second minute of added time. Juana Ortegón won possession in midfield before combining with Isabel Weiner, whose pass found Loboa. The Colombian forward then finished the move to give her side a dramatic late victory.
The defeat ends Nigeria’s campaign in the quarter-finals, while Colombia progress to the last four of the competition for only the second time, having previously reached the semi-finals at the 2010 edition in Germany.
The Falconets had reached the quarter-finals after an impressive turnaround in Poland. Following a defeat to Spain and a draw with China PR in the group stage, Nigeria defeated New Caledonia 10-1 before producing a 3-0 victory over England in the Round of 16. FIFA had identified the England victory as a major statement from Moses Aduku’s side ahead of the Colombia encounter.