Julius OkorieAfter sending New Zealand to the cleaners in the group opener of the ongoing FIFA U-17 women World Cup in Dominican Republic, Flamingos will be hoping re-enact the feat against Ecuador on Saturday.
The Bankole Olowookere tutored girls were ruthless against their New Zealand counterparts running away with an emphatic 4-1 victory to announce their arrival in the beautiful Caribbean Island.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe victory is also a warning to other group members to be ready to fight to the finish against the Nigerian no nonsense teenagers.
Shakirat Moshood scored one of the competition’s fastest goals since it was launched 16 years ago, when she rounded the defence of the girls from Down Under to score the first goal in less than two minutes. Taiwo Adegoke doubled the lead in the 13th minute.
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Faridat Abdulwahab and Captain Taiwo Afolabi were all on target to hand the team four- goal harvest. The consolation goal for New Zealand came in the 60th minute courtesy of Hannah Saxon.
The killer form of the Nigerian girls is an indication that debutants Ecuador may be in a baptism of fire on Saturday, victory in that encounter will catapult Flamingos into the knockout stage.
You however never say never in football as Ecuador also proved they have not come to look at the beautiful beaches after they beat the hosts 2-0 to occupy the second position on the log behind Nigeria. The Nigerian side are veterans of this championship haven made appearance in every edition since inception in 2008.
The best appearance has been third place finish at the 2022 edition in India where the Flamingos beat Germany on penalty after the game ended 3-3 at regulation time.
Flamingos went ahead to win 3-2 in the resultant penalty shootout.
The Nigeria against New Zealand tie produced the highest goal margin in the matches played so far as the championship kicked off Wednesday October 16.
In other matches, Spain beat United States 3-1, Korea Republic and Colombia settled for a 1-1 draw. Tomorrow will see the other two African representatives Kenya take on England and Zambia face Brazil. Spain, who are defending champions are seeking to win three times on a stretch after winning in 2018 in Uruguay and 2022 in India.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
