Despite losing their opening match, Nigeria qualified for the quarter finals of the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup finals in India on Monday having won their last two matches.
Monday’s 2-1 result over Chile in Bhubaneswar followed the victory over New Zealand last Friday.
Blessing Emmanuel’s goal in the 4th minute and Bisola Mosaku’s strike off a free-kick by dead-ball artist Miracle Usani with eight minutes left was enough to see Nigeria through at the Kalinga Stadium, despite a late penalty converted by Chile’s Roverner Tali.
The Flamingoes’ next opponents will be either United States or Brazil in the last eight on Friday.
The Nigerian girls created chance after chance that were not converted, but eventually prevailed.
Head coach Bankole Olowookere assured that the team would get better as the tournament progresses.
“We missed a number of chances again, but I like the spirit of the team and we will get better as we go on in the competition. I am happy we made it into the last eight, and that we sustained our winning mentality despite the fact that we only needed a draw to sail through”.
In the other match in Group B, Germany’s 3-1 win over New Zealand meant the Europeans finished with the maximum nine points in the group phase, scoring 11 goals and conceding only two.
Nigeria had six points, and a plus five goals advantage.
