The Nigeria Women’s U-17 team, Flamingoes, play the United States of America today in the U-17 Women’s World Cup.
The match is scheduled for the DY Patil Stadium and will kick-off 12pm Nigeria time.
A win for the Flamingoes today will give them a place in the semifinals of the tournament for the first time in history.
It will be recalled that during the group stage of the tournament, the Flamingoes had lose to Germany, before going on to beat New Zealand and Chile to emerge second in their Group B.
In Group A, the USA finished as topper of the group with seven points from two wins, one draw and no defeat.
The Flamingoes will have a big job to deliver, especially after failing to qualify for the semifinals in six previous editions of the tournament.
On the side of the Americans, they will be playing to get a place in the semifinals since 2008 where they finished as runners-up.
Bankole Olowookere, the Head Coach of Nigeria’s U-17 Women’s team, said in an interview with NFF TV that the quarterfinals will not be the final goodbye for the Flamingoes as they will continue to press ahead in the competition.
“As a coach, I have achieved getting to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, but as Nigeria, we have not reached the final journey.”
“The best we have ever gotten at the U-17 Women’s World Cup is the quarter-final stage; I’m here to create a lot of upsets and set new records.“We need to work hard to get to the semi-final and set a new record for the U-17 team.”
He added, “We respect the USA team; they are a superpower in female football. I am watching them closely; they play well and score many goals. I have to be careful about playing them.
“I am going for the win, but I have to look at our loopholes and try to correct some of the things we are not doing right. By the time we are done with all these, we’ll have what it takes to defeat the USA.”
