Headlines
Netherlands End Falconets Women’s World Cup Dreams with 2-0 Defeat
Nigeria bowed out of the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup after a 2-0 loss to The Netherlands on Sunday.
The Falconets could not reenact earlier round performances, which saw them winning all three group phase matches, in this their quarter-final match in Alajuela, Costa Rica.
Flourish Sabastine, who scored Nigeria’s winning goal against France in their Group C opening match, could not make hay in the seventh minute.
But four minutes later, the Dutch were ahead, when Zera Hulswit rammed a perfect dipping shot beyond Omini Oyono after pulling away on the counter-attack.
In the 15th minute, Sabastine again pulled away and let fly, but the ball was tipped away by impressive goalkeeper Claire Dinkla.
On the half-hour, Nigeria nearly got the leveller that their endeavour deserved when Deborah Abiodun seized the ball as the Dutch defence fell into confusion.
But her dipping shot from 25 metres rocked the crossbar and was then tipped away from the head of Chiamaka Okwuchukwu.
Only three minutes later, the Dutch doubled their lead after breaking through the right once more.
With team captain Oluwatosin Demehin and Omowumi Oshobukola in a fumble, Ziva Henry bundled the ball past Oyono.
Substitute Joy Jerry came close to pulling one back when her head met the ball from Rofiat Imuran’s cross in the 62nd minute, but the ball floated away.
In the second minute of added time, a Dutch defender handled the ball in the box as Nigeria poured forward.
But after consulting the Video Assistant Referee, Costa Rican official Marianela Araya overturned her own decision to award a penalty kick.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that defeat meant elimination for a team that had won all three group phase matches, scoring five goals and conceding only one.
The Netherlands will now meet Spain on Thursday in the first semi-final fixture, after the European side beat Mexico 1-0 in the first quarter-final match on Saturday.
Brazil who also won 1-0 against Colombia on Saturday in the second quarter-final match await the winners of the fourth quarter-final match fixture between defending champions Japan and France.
NAN
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
