Izuchukwu OkosiNigeria finished her campaign in the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India as the third best team after a 3-2 win over Germany via the penalty shootout in the third place final.
The match ended 3-3 after 90 minutes and a penalty shootout was required.
1. Penalty Takers
We start our observations from the penalties played by coach Bankole Oloworooke’s players in the tournament.
In the semifinals Omamuzo Edafe lost her shootout kick against Colombia although she scored from 12 yards in the previous match (quarterfinals against USA) within 90 minutes.
The rightback had no problems dispatching the ball into the net when Nigeria played the Americans but the pressure of the shootout told on her and she lost her kick against Colombia.
The bigger disappointment though as per the penalty duties came from defender Comfort Folorunsho.
Folorunsho while impressive most times was awful with the penalties and after her poor kick which went agonisingly wide against USA, it was a tad surprising that she was allowed to take it again in the defeat to Colombia which was easily saved by the Colombian goalkeeper.
In the third place final, it was the turn of Timuninu Adeshina to miss. It was easy to predict the outcome after the duo of Blessing Sunday, Opeyemi Ajakaye and Edidiong Etim scored theirs in confident fashion.
There was an air of ‘good’ arrogance in the demeanour of those who scored their kicks as they stepped up to the penalty area with measured swagger and hunger.
That was not the case with Adeshina whose tension as she walked to pick up the ball in Mumbai can be felt thousands of miles away in Lagos, Nigeria. The uneasiness easily showed on her face.
2. Omilana’s Saves
Goalkeeper Faith Omilana was ponderous in handling the ball mostly in the group stages but she improved remarkably in the knockout stages especially against Colombia and the third place game against Germany.
Contrary to Prime Business Africa’s suggestion that second choice keeper Chikamso Jiweaku be given an opportunity to play against Germany, head coach Bankole Oloworooke stuck to his gun and even left the keeper on for the shootout.
But for Omilana’s outstanding saves during the 90 minutes of action, the German girls might have dpcrdd more than three goals.
Goalkeeper Faith Omilana has significantly improved in her performances. She seemed to be getting better as the tournament went on. Was even on penalties duty.
3. The Sloppy Nigerian Defence
The Nigerian defenders lacked concentration in the second half of the match against Germany letting the European U-17 champions to get back into it when it felt victory was certain at 3-0 up and another penalty nightmare out of the way.
Nigerian teams would need to work with specialist trainers and the defensive coaches especially at the youth level as this have to work on defending setpieces.
Bankole Oloworooke did a good job. His scouting network was top notch but if he gets another opportunity to handle a team in such a profile tournament, he needs to improve on his team’s defending.
4. The Attack Can Score
Despite a few worries in the defensive side of the team, The attackers were indeed superb.
They,, in tandem with the midfielders created lots of chances and scored some great goals.
However they lost a lot of chances as well.
5. Continuity Is Needed
One common problem with most of the Nigerian youth teams is that there is no progression with the teams from one category to another.
A team to a youth tournament say the U-17 is not expected to have all the players intact should they be promoted to the U-20 level due to poor form, injuries, disciplinary issues, commitments etc,
However as the players are naturally expected to graduate to the Falconets side to play at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2024, the qualification campaign will begin in 2023 and most of these girls should be part I the team with a few positions and personnel to be changed.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
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