Oscar Precious saves Nigeria’s blushes as Falconets qualify for Poland 2026

Nigeria’s Falconets booked their place at the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland after surviving a tense 2-1 defeat against Malawi in Lilongwe on Saturday, Soccernet.ng reports.

The Nigerian girls travelled to the Bingu National Stadium holding a 2-0 advantage from the first leg played in Ikenne last week, but they were pushed all the way by a fearless Malawi team chasing history.

Malawi made the perfect start in front of their home supporters when Faith Chimzimu opened the scoring in the ninth minute. The early goal lifted the hosts and immediately put pressure on the Falconets, who struggled to settle in the opening stages.

Nigeria tried to slow the game down and protect their aggregate lead, but Malawi continued to attack with pace and energy.

The hosts carried their momentum into the second half and found another breakthrough when Chimzimu struck again to complete her brace and level the tie at 2-2 on aggregate.

For the first time in the contest, the Falconets looked in danger of missing the tournament.

Falconets: Oscar Precious delivers decisive moment

Just when Malawi appeared ready to complete a famous comeback, Nigeria found the goal that changed everything. In the 62nd minute, Oscar Precious scored the crucial away goal for the Falconets to make it 2-1 on the day and restore Nigeria’s aggregate advantage at 3-2.

The goal silenced the home crowd and forced Malawi to chase another strike to keep their World Cup hopes alive. The hosts continued to press late into the match, but the Falconets defended strongly to protect their slim advantage until the final whistle.

The result means Nigeria have now qualified for every edition of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup since the competition began. Poland 2026 will be the Falconets’ 12th appearance at the tournament.

The competition will take place from 5 to 27 September 2026, with the Falconets hoping to finally win the title after finishing runners-up twice in previous editions.

Ghana also confirmed qualification on Saturday after the Black Princesses drew 1-1 away to Uganda to complete a 3-2 aggregate victory.

Africa still has two remaining qualification spots to be decided, with Cameroon facing Tanzania and Ivory Coast taking on Benin in the final qualifying ties.