Julius OkorieNigeria’s female U-17 side, the Flamingos, have booked their place in this year’s FIFA U-17 Championship, billed for Dominican Republic in November.
The Bankole Olowookere tutored side, achieved the feat, after handing their Liberian counterparts 6-1 aggregate defeat in a two-legged encounter.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe Flamingos, had in the first leg played in Monrovia, beaten the Liberian girls 4-1, and then adding the icing on the cake with another 2-0 defeat at the MKO Abiola Stadium on Friday.
Chidi Harmony opened scoring for Nigeria three minutes into the game, when she outplayed the Liberian defence, to put the ball beyond the goalkeeper, Makula Konneh, from a Shakirat Moshood crossing.
Peace Effiong was close to scoring in the 17th minute, while Moshood hit the crossbar in the 18th, from 20 yards and also missed a goal from close range 10 minutes towards the end of the first half.
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Chidi eventually made it a brace in the 58th minute, when she placed the ball beyond Konneh’s reach as Nigeria seized the ball from a defensive slip-up by the visitors. The Flamingos scored a total of 25 goals en-route qualification for this year’s tournament.
Nigeria thus joined Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, England, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Spain and USA in the U-17 Women’s World Cup, which will take place from 16 October to 3 November.
The winners of the Morocco against Zambia and Kenya against Burundi ties, this weekend, will complete the 16-team field for the tournament.
Nigeria finished third at the last edition, hosted by India, beating Germany 3-2 on penalty after the match ended 3-3, at regulation time.
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.
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