Alaba Jonathan, Joy Jegede and Esther Sunday of Nigeria celebrate after winning the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup Quarter Final match against USA on July 25, 2010 in Augsburg, Germany. (Photo Courtesy Vanguard)

Nigeria confront Colombia today in a last four match at the FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup in Germany, knowing that a win would catapult them into the record books as Africa's first team to reach the finals of a world tournament.

After dumping out defending champions, USA on Sunday, the Falconets, as the Nigeria side are called, tackle Colombia, who are making their first appearance at the tournament, in a game that coach Ndem Egan feels that his west African charges can win for the development of the women's game in the country.

In comments posted on www.fifa.com, Egan, while attributing the impressive runs of the team at the event to the support that they have been getting back home, warned that it would be fool-hardy for them to now rest on their laurels.

"Before we arrived in Germany, the girls promised that we would get beyond the quarter_final stage. Now we are looking to the final itself , that is our target. The information we have been getting from Nigeria is that all the people are very, very happy with the result.

It will help a lot more girls to take up the game, which can only be good for the development of Nigerian football. But we must stay focussed to ensure that we remain on course for a final ticket", said Egan.

Also speaking, the team's technical advisor, James Peters, has underlined the importance of the Nigerian spirit and the high level of fitness, in galvanizing the girls, who are now on the thresh-hold of reaching thefinal.

"I told them that what a man can do, they can do even better. I worked them as hard as I did my men's teams when I worked in the US, and the results are there to be seen. Against USA we started very slowly and conserved our energies, and the final result was something we had all been dreaming about", said Peters.

A detailed look at the history of the competition shows how the Nigerians have undergone steady improvement recent years. In 2002 they were bottom of their group; in 2004 they finished third, which was enough to take them into the quarter_finals; two years later they were second before losing to Brazil in the last eight; and in 2008 they topped their group but fell to France in the quarter-finals.