From Noon today, Nigeria’s U17 female football team will aim to go up one gear, as they face their counterparts from Colombia in the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup for that category.
The Nigerian girls have already made history by reaching the semi-final with their victory over United States, runners-up to Germany in the inaugural edition at New Zealand 2008, in the quarterfinal of the current competition. They are hungry for more.
The Flamingoes are in dreamland already and receiving motivation to go on and finish the job by bringing the cup home for the first time. First is to achieve a third triumph over Colombia in the FIFA U17 World Cup in which Nigeria missed only the last edition — in 2018 in Uruguay — on account of penalty shootout defeat to Cameroon in the last stage of the African qualifiers.
Nigeria beat Colombia 3-0 in 2012 and 2-1 in 2014 to contribute to the South Americans’ group stage exit in both editions. This is the first time in five qualifications that Colombia will reach the knockout stage.
Leading the support for the Nigerian girls will be the recently elected president of the Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau who arrived in India, the host nation, on Tuesday to cheer the team as they face Colombia at Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Margao.
Apart from stretching their feat future, the Flamingoes will seek to avenge the defeat of Tanzania, the other African side at India 2022. In the quarterfinals, Colombia whacked the East Africans 3-0 to set the stage for today’s last four fixture,
In the other semifinal, the last winners of the tournament, Spain go up against Germany, whose best performance was a third placed finish at the inaugural edition 14 years ago.
The Spaniards beat Mexico 2-1 in Uruguay 2018 to win the title for the first time and are aiming for an encore in India, being the only former champions left in the competition.
The Germans are the only blemish of the Nigerian team in India having won their opening game in Group B 2-1, coming from a goal down.
Ghana, the first African side to reach the semifinal of this competition, crash to France 0-2 in Azerbaijan 2012. But the West Africans recovered quickly to overcome Germany 1-0 and win the bronze.
Flamingoes coach Bankole Olowookere will again bank on goalkeeper Faith Omilana, defenders Miracle Usani, Tumininu Adeshina, Comfort Folorunsho and Blessing Emmanuel, midfielders Taiwo Afolabi, Alvine Dah-Zossu and Blessing Sunday, and forwards Opeyemi Ajakaye, Edidiong Etim and Aminat Omowunmi Bello.
The Nigerian lasses have scored eight times in open play, conceding four. They have recorded 36 shots on target, making them the side that has created the most opportunities of the four teams left in the competition.
