The Joeys progressed to the knockout phase of the U17 World Cup after securing a 2-1 victory over Group B winners Nigeria at the Estadio Bezerrao in Brasilia.

A brace from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim attacker Noah Botic - the former National Premier League striker's third and fourth goals of the tournament - ensured Australia defeated the five-time U17 World Cup winning nation to seal progression as one of the competition's four best third-placed sides.

Nigeria are regular powerhouses at youth international level, and the victory for Trevor Morgan's side marked Australia's first win over the African nation at the U17 World Cup in seven attempts.

Australia will now face either the winner of Group C (France, Chile or Korea Republic) or Group D (Senegal or Japan) in the last 16 of the tournament next week.

"We came here to win games and, although Nigeria were fantastic, we got the result," Morgan said post-match. "It's a plus for the boys, for their commitment and belief to come here and play a top team and win."

"We played an excellent team with great quality and great physical capacity (but) the boys were able to keep concentrating, keep working, and in the end the result was fantastic for us."

FFA National Technical Director Rob Sherman said there had been plenty of positives to take from the team’s displays so far.  

“The team have shown considerable spirit throughout the tournament coming back from early setbacks in their first two games before securing a fantastic win against Nigeria,” Sherman said.

“The Joeys have shown a level of composure throughout and demonstrated that they pose an attacking threat and can create goalscoring opportunities.

“This is the first generation of players that have emerged from Small Sided Games, Skill Acquisition Programs, NPL, Talent Support Programs, and A-League Academies, underpinned by the National Curriculum. The game should be proud.”

But he added: “We cannot however rest on our laurels.

"We need to raise the bar even higher with the evolution of the academy and talent development system along with the curriculum.

"It does demonstrate the potential Australia has to create the landscape for talented male and female players to emerge and progress into top football, provided we cooperate and work together to capitalise on the resources we have, to overcome the resources we don’t.

"It will be exciting to watch many of these players make their senior debuts in the A-League and professional football across the world in the coming years.”