Germany beat Nigeria 2-0 yesterday to win the FIFA’S Women’s U-20 World Cup on home soil. Korea also beat Colombia 1-0 to clinch the Bronze in the third attempt at this stage of the competition.
Germany’s victory however is the main talking point as the hosts finished the tournament with a perfect record winning all their matches. It was alos a momentous occasion for Nigeria’s despite their loss.
The Falconets became the first African nation to win a medal in a FIFA women’s tournament. This is Germany’s second title-their first one coming 6 years back in Thailand.
For tournament held immediately after the more appealing men’s World Cup, it posted some very impressive statistics. A new record attendance for the tournament was set with a total of 395 265 fans having watched all 32 matches an average of 12,353 fans per game.
The tournament’s Fair play award went to Korea Republic. The Golden Glove went to USA’s Bianca Henninger with Germany’s Alexandra Popp winning both the Adidas Golden Ball and Adidas Golden Shoe awards.
This marks the end of FIFA’s summer football fest and brightly turns the focus to the European league that is set to begin in the next few weeks. As like i said in my last post, this tournament was a curtain raiser for the Women’s World Cup that will be staged in the same country next year.
It only remains to be seen whether the German senior side can equal the performace displayed by their juniors.
Photo credit: from americanistadechiapas
