Aduku shares Falconets U-20 World Cup concerns

Nigeria under-20 women’s team coach Moses Aduku has made a candid admission about the Falconets’ preparedness for the 2026 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Aduku said his team’s 2-1 loss to Malawi in the Under-20 Women’s World Cup final qualifying round second leg in Lilongwe on Saturday was a timely wake-up call.

He admitted that the game played at Bingu National Stadium exposed his team’s deficiencies, as they had never lost any games across all competitions.

“We want to win and win well ahead of the second leg in Senegal…the energy in camp is also very high…”

– Coach Moses Aduku speaks in his pre match press conference for the Senegal matchup. #54footballx pic.twitter.com/xeQZVhNtNr

— Official54fx (@54footballx) February 6, 2026

FALCONETS BOSS ADUKU TARGETS WORLD CUP GLORY AFTER MALAWI TEST

“This team has never lost a game, including friendlies, but the Malawians have shown us that there is some work to do, and we are going to do this because we are not going to the World Cup just to participate, but we want to contest for the cup, so we have a lot of work to do,” Aduku said.

The Falconets’ mentor observed that the Junior Scorchers’ performance is fresh evidence of the unprecedented growth of women’s football in Africa.

“In Africa [women’s football], there is no pushing over again. Everybody is growing rapidly, and Malawi is no exception. With a little push and a little encouragement from the league body, I think they will go places. They need not to be discouraged because Nigeria has been there from inception, so you cannot expect them to just go out,” the coach added.

The Falconets lost 2-1 to Malawi’s Junior Scorchers in Lilongwe but still booked their Under-20 Women’s World Cup final place via an aggregate score of 3-2, thanks to a home first leg 2-0 victory.

During the game, Faith Chinzimu scored the opener for Malawi in either half while Oscar Precious reduced the arrears for the visitors to qualify for the World Cup scheduled for Poland in September 2026.