Nigeria’s Flamingos walloped New Zealand 4-0 in their second group B game to record their first win at the 8th FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India on Friday.
Following the 2-1 loss to Germany in the opening game of their competition, Nigeria needed to pick up the maximum three points to increase their chances of advancing to the quarterfinals.
Nigeria were obviously the dominant team in the game as Flamingos won the first half 2-0 thanks to a powerful header from Bello in the 17th minute.
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A wonderful shot from outside the box by Miracle Usani was headed into the net by New Zealand skipper Manaia Elliott (own goal) to double Flamingo’s lead in the 34th minute.
Afterwards, Nigeria came close to scoring another goal in the match including a one-on-one chance for Opeyemi Ajakaye to net Flamingos third but the girls weren’t clinical with those chances.
The Nigerian girls picked the game up from where they left it in the first half maintaining total possession of the interesting encounter.
Flamingos created a lot of chances but were wasteful in front of goal until the 75th minute, when Taiwo Afolabi scored a magnificent goal from outside the 18-yard area to put Nigeria three-nil up.
Edidiong Etim scored Nigeria’s fourth goal of the match to wrap up the victory for Flamingos and their first three points at the Fatorda Stadium in Goa, India.
Nigeria will play Chile in their last game of the group B and hope they can cruise to the knockout stage.
Flamingos’ strides
Africa’s best team took the lead against European champions Germany on Tuesday but fell to two second-half goals that have rendered their remaining encounters in the group phase, against New Zealand and Chile, must-win.
New Zealand girls from Down Under took the bronze medals at the 2018 World Cup finals in Uruguay – the only finals Nigeria have missed in the history of the tournament.
Incidentally, New Zealand hosted the very first edition of the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, 28th October – 16 November 2008.
It is a long way from those finals, when hosts New Zealand exited the competition at the group stage after losses to Canada and Denmark and a win over Colombia.
Nigeria’s Flamingos suffered a similar fate, after a 2-1 win over South Korea and 1-0 loss to England in Wellington, and a 2-2 draw with Brazil in Christchurch.
