Nigeria’s female cadet national team, Flamingos regained confidence with a 2-0 victory over Puerto Rico on Tuesday at the FIFA Women’s U17 World Cup, but they still have a huge hurdle to scale against Korea DPR on Friday.
Sports247 reports that the Nigerians will enter their last group game level with Poland on three points apiece and ahead on goals difference, but could still drop on head-to-head rule, since they lost their first match 2-1 to the East Europeans.
There is also a strong possibility that Poland might defeat Puerto Rico, the group’s whipping team, which means the Nigerians will have to play for victory against Korea DPR or at least avoid a heavy defeat, in the event that their opponents of Tuesday night pull off a surprise win on Friday.
Though Coach Akeem Busari’s side got a reprieve earlier on Tuesday when Poland lost 6-1 to Korea, the Flamingos will also have to be wary of the defending champions, who also trounced Puerto Rico 6-0 in their opening game of the ongoing championship and are already through to the next round.
For now, though, Busari and his players will relish Tuesday night’s victory in Rabat, as the 2022 bronze medallists flew high all through the encounter, buoyed by Oluwakemi Adegbuyi’s goal from Queen Joseph’s assist in the first half.
Queen Joseph, Tosin Rafiu and Favour Nkwocha all came close in the second half, during which Busari sent on Awawu Bashiru and Oluebube Umejiaku in the 67th minute to add more energy and bite in attack.
The pressure finally paid off in the 90th minute when Nigeria got the second goal as substitute Precious Oscar nodded home a cross from Adegbuyi to seal the contest at 2-0, ehile Poland’s high-score deficit is an advantage for the Flamingos ahead of Friday’s last fixture with Korea.
