Christopher Danjuma, the Under-20 national female team head coach, says they will not underrate the Central African Republic (CAR) in their second leg encounter.

Danjuma disclosed this late Tuesday at the end of the team`s training session at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja.

The Falconets earned a thumping first-leg win that should make the return leg a mere formality.

Two-time runners-up of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, Nigeria’s Falconets fired from all cylinders as they hit CAR`s U-20 girls 7-0 in their FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Africa first round, first leg encounter in Douala, Cameroon on Saturday.

He said the team would not be distracted to qualify for the World Cup.

“We are preparing for the second leg of the match against CAR, and by the grace of God. We are focused, and it will be a smooth journey,” the Falconets coach stated. “We are making sure that we are not distracted by anything. We are looking forward to the second leg, which will end with victory.”

He added that the team would start preparation early enough to have a better result in the second leg match and the subsequent make to come.

“Thank God that this time we started preparations early enough, and it is giving us a lot of opportunities to see what we need to really build in our team,” added Danjuma. “We continue to work hard and to make sure that we will qualify by the grace of God. We are going to have a better team that will go to the world cup,” he said.

He urged Nigerians to continue to pray for the team and also believe in them.

“We urge Nigerians that they should continue to pray for us and continue to support us, believe in us, and we believe that by God’s grace, we will make everybody happy,” said the Falconets coach.

The return leg has been scheduled for October 6 at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan, Lagos.

The Falconets have appeared at every edition of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup since it debuted as FIFA U-19 Women’s World Cup in Canada in 2002.

They featured at the 2004 edition in Thailand, Russia 2006, Chile 2008, Germany 2010, Japan 2012, Canada 2014, Papua New Guinea 2016, and France 2018.

The 2020 edition, planned by FIFA to be co-hosted by Costa Rica and Panama, did not hold due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

(NAN)