Tag: Flamingos

Liberia’s U17 girls will host World Cup bronze medallists, Flamingos of Nigeria at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Stadium, Monrovia on Sunday, 9th  June in the first leg of the teams’ FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup African qualification series final fixture.

The match in the Liberian capital will kick off at 4pm Liberia time (5pm in Nigeria).

Bankole Olowookere’s maidens have made their way into the fourth and final qualifying round following a 12-0 second round annihilation of their counterparts from Central African Republic, after which they dispatched Burkina Faso’s U17 girls 7-1 on aggregate.

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The Liberian girls were the big surprise of the third round, edging out Senegal on the away goal rule after a 2-0 win in Monrovia in the second leg of a tie that the Senegalese thought they had wrapped up after a 3-1 win in Dakar.

The Flamingos will host the return at the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja on Friday, 14th June starting from 4pm. The winner on aggregate will emerge as one of Africa’s three representatives at this year’s FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup finals in the Dominican Republic.

Burundi Vs Kenya and Zambia Vs Morocco are the other fixtures.

FIFA U17 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP AFRICAN FINAL QUALIFYING ROUND

Liberia Vs Nigeria

Burundi Vs Kenya

Zambia Vs Morocco

Nigeria’s U17 girls, Flamingos, are back in the country following their FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup qualifying match against Burkina Faso’s U17 girls in Bamako, Mali on Saturday that ended in a 1-1 draw.

Head Coach Bankole Olowookere said on arrival in Abuja  that the support of Nigerians based in Bamako helped put the Flamingos in the spirit during the first leg, and the tactician is calling on Nigerians based in Abuja and environs to storm the MKO Abiola National Stadium this Saturday to support the girls as they aim to stroll past the Burkinabes into the final round of the race.

 “We appreciate the support of Nigerians for the Flamingos over the years, but we are calling specially for their support this weekend when we take on the Burkina Faso girls in the return leg of our qualifying fixture. The Flamingos will be ready to do the nation proud by winning to reach the last round of the qualification series.

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 “I have the players to do the job. All we are asking for is support from the stands. Our objective is to not only win the ticket, but to go to the World Cup and surpass our last outing of third-place finish in India in 2022.”

Chidi Harmony scored for Nigeria in the 55th  minute but poor communication in the defence led to Burkina Faso equalizing with six minutes left through Rainata Oubda.

Victory over the Burkinabes will set the Flamingos up for the final qualifying fixture, against the winner of the Senegal/Liberia fixture. The Senegalese lead 3-1 going into the second leg in Monrovia this weekend.

The Nigeria U17 Women’s National Team, Flamingos, on Saturday thrashed Soccer Talent Academy 9-1 in Abuja, in their first preparatory match ahead of their FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup qualifying fixture against Burkina Faso

The visitors drew the first blood when their striker took advantage of poor communication between goalkeeper Ijeoma Uzoma and defender Prisca Nwachukwu. However, their celebration did not last long as Harmony Chidi equalized a few minutes later to open the floodgate of goals for Flamingos. Two minutes later, Etim Edidiong put Flamingos ahead with a superb strike from outside the box.

The two goalscorers then found the back of the net again to put the home side in a comfortable lead at halftime. On resumption of the second half, the Flamingos continued the push for more goals and their efforts paid off when Yetunde Ayantosho added another one from close range. Aisha Animashaun then joined the party with a brace before Funke Arogundade and Ramota Kareem wrapped up the goals-galore with good tap-ins.

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Speaking after the match, coach Bankole Olowookere pointed out the areas the technical crew must work on before jetting out of the country.

“Despite scoring a lot of goals today, we missed a lot of chances too and we cannot afford to do that in a competitive match. We must utilize our chances to score goals against Burkina Faso so that the return leg at home will be a walk in the park for us.

“I have noticed one or two things that must be corrected before our next friendly match and the girls must understand the difference between training session and match situation.”

The Flamingos’ delegation will depart from Abuja on Wednesday, 8 May to Bamako where they will face the Burkinabe U17 women’s team on Saturday, 11 May.

Nigeria have appeared at every edition of the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup finals bar one – the 2018 finals staged in Uruguay.

Head Coach Bankole Olowookere has disclosed that his Nigeria U17 girls, Flamingos are determined to have another goal feast when they host their counterparts from the Central African Republic at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium on Friday, 9th February 2024.

 “We will not be taking any chances. It is a FIFA World Cup qualifier and even though we won the first leg by a wide margin, there is the need to take the return leg as serious and fire on all cylinders. We will not be taking our feet off the pedal,” said Olowookere, who also led the team to win the bronze medals at the last edition of the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in India.

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Both teams clashed in Douala, Cameroon last Sunday in the second round, first leg of the African qualification series for this year’s FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup finals, with the Flamingos running away with a 6-0 win. Douala has been ‘home ground’ for national football teams of Central African Republic for some years now as there is no stadium in that country approved for international matches.

Harmony Chidi and Shakirat Moshood got a brace each, with Prisca Nwachukwu and Edidiong Etim also on the scoresheet at the Stade de la Reunification.

Today,  both teams will clash in the return leg, with the Confederation of African Football having appointed Moroccan official Zakia El Grini as the referee, while her compatriots Ihsane Nouajli, Karima Khadiri and Sabah Sadir will serve as assistant 1, assistant 2 and fourth official respectively.

Naa Odofoley Nortey from Ghana will be in the role of commissioner. The match will kick off at 4pm.