Nigeria have won their way into a second successive FIFA U-20 Women&rsquo;s World Cup semi-final with a hard-fought 1-0 extra-time victory over a resilient Mexico in Tokyo.<br /><br />Nigeria, beaten finalists in Germany two years ago, were dominant throughout the first hour, but were unable to make the breakthrough until Desire Oparanozie&rsquo;s decisive goal on 109 minutes.<br /><br />The Africans made much of the early running and appeared to have scored a crucial early goal when Francisca Ordega&rsquo;s shot deflected past goalkeeper Cecilia Santiago on the quarter-hour, only for the offside flag to be raised for an earlier infringement.<br /><br />Almost immediately, Oparanozie forced Santiago into a sprawling save as Nigeria looked to turn the screw in the late afternoon heat.<br /><br />With far more possession in midfield, Nigeria were inching their way closer to breaking the deadlock, and Oparanozie rattled the crossbar with a shot eight minutes before the interval.<br /><br />The always dangerous Sofia Huerta, scorer of three goals in the tournament, made a rare incursion into the Africans&rsquo; penalty area just before the break, to provide some impetus for the Mexicans.<br /><br />However, the one-way traffic continued immediately upon the resumption, much to the delight of a large and buoyant group of Nigeria supporters, whose singing resonated around the National Stadium throughout the match.<br /><br />Approaching the hour-mark, Santiago again thwarted the Africans with an important block from Gloria Ofoegbu&rsquo;s effort, and then again a few minutes later from Oparanozie.<br /><br />Mexico slowly started to make an impression and enjoyed a rare sight of goal midway through the second half, only for inspirational skipper Nayeli Rangel to direct her back-post header narrowly over.<br /><br />Nigeria&rsquo;s midfield play became less cohesive and Mexico could have won it in injury time as a corner looped onto the crossbar.&nbsp; A fairly disjointed period of extra time was enlivened only on a few occasions, notably by Mexico&rsquo;s Yamile Franco hitting the bar with an angled free-kick.<br /><br />With the match starting to swing back Mexico&rsquo;s way, it was Nigeria who conjured a winner, with Oparanozie looping a perfectly executed header from Ugo Njoku&rsquo;s cross over a stranded Santiago.<br /><br />(Source: fifa.com)<br />