Nigeria’s U-17 women’s national team,Falconets, yesterday continued their steady stride towards the U-17 Women’s World Cup trophy by beating Mexico 2-1 to qualify for the quarterfinals.

Since losing their opening game to Poland, the Falconets have not looked back, beating Puerto Rico and defending champions, North Korea to get to the round of 16.

Yesterday against a Mexican side touted as one of the title contenders, the Falconets brooked no complex as they raced to a two-goal lead before the Mexicans got a consolatory strike late in the game

Oluebube Umejiaku broke the deadlock in the 39th minute after Mexico had resisted a barrage of Nigerian attacks.

Mary Dunstan then scored in the 70th minute to ease the tension on supporters of the Nigerian side that have shown remarkable improvement over the games.

Emily Delgado pulled one back for Mexico in added time, but her goal came too late to inspire a comeback as Nigeria held on to secure their place in the last eight.

Nigeria will now meet Venezuela in the quarterfinals on Sunday