With a well-earned 2-1 victory over Chile on Monday, Nigeria’s U-17 Women’s team, the Flamingos, advanced to the quarterfinal of the ongoing FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
The flamingos had earlier secured a 4-0 victory over New Zealand on Friday.
With six points, they are the runners-up in Group B.
Captain Blessing After a wonderful assist from Opeyemi Ajakaye, gave the Flamingos the lead in the eighth minute with a looping strike into the bottom right corner.
The team led by Coach Bankole Olowookere maintained their dominance and had a few chances to extend the lead, but the outstanding Chilean goalkeeper stopped shots from Miracle Usani, Opeyemi Ajakaye, and Amina Bello.
After Amina Bello’s header, Bisola Mosaku ultimately scored the second goal in the 82nd minute of the very important match.
A minute before the end of the game, Chile scored a goal from the penalty spot. After a thorough VAR review, it was concluded that Omamuzo Edafe handled the ball in the box, resulting in a penalty for the Chile team.
Flamingos’ attacker, Opeyemi Ajakaye’s outstanding effort from beginning to end earned him the title of man of the match for the second straight game. She contributed an assist while also nearly scoring several instances.
Along with Germany which won the group after defeating New Zealand 3-1, the Flamingos advance as runners-up.
Flamingos will confront either Brazil or the United States of America in the quarterfinals owing to their triumph.
The impressive performance of the Nigeria team confirmed that they have bounced back having lost their first fixture against Germany and winning their remaining two group matches to reach the knockout phase of the global football showpiece taking place in India.
As the tournament proceeds, all eyes will be on Captain Emmanuel. Aside from putting her team ahead, captain Emmanuel was impressive for the entire duration. Her assets of endless speed tearing apart the defence and taking accurate decisions should stimulate the team to victory
