Flamingos captain Harmony Chidi has revealed that defeating Ghana was her most satisfying moment of Nigeria’s triumphant WAFU-B U-17 Girls Cup campaign, after leading the team to the title with a perfect five wins from five matches.
Nigeria completed their dominant campaign on Sunday with a 4-0 victory over Togo, with Chidi leading from the front by converting two first-half penalties. Oluebube Umejiaku and Oluwakemi Adegbuyi added the other goals.
The captain finished the tournament with four goals, but it was Nigeria’s earlier 4-2 victory over Ghana that carried special meaning.
“My number one achievement here is beating Ghana. And not only beating Ghana, beating Ivory Coast,” Chidi said after lifting the trophy.
There was history behind that emotion.
Ghana had denied Nigeria the inaugural WAFU-B U-17 Girls Cup title in 2024, winning the final on penalties after a 2-2 draw. This time, the Flamingos defeated their rivals 4-2 despite playing the final half-hour with 10 players.
“This particular team, we played them in 2024. They won us with penalties and took the cup,” Chidi recalled. “All of us just came out to beat Ghana.”
Nigeria eventually conquered everyone placed before them — Niger Republic 5-0, Ghana 4-2, Burkina Faso 2-0, hosts Côte d’Ivoire 2-0 and Togo 4-0.
That produced an imposing tournament record of five victories, 17 goals scored and only two conceded.
But Chidi is already looking beyond the trophy towards next month’s FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco.
“I pray that with this spirit in this WAFU-B, let’s take it to the World Cup,” she said, while calling for Nigerians to continue supporting the team.
Nigeria will face North Korea, Puerto Rico and Poland in Group B at the World Cup.
For Chidi, the WAFU-B mission is complete. **The next challenge is taking that same fearless mentality from West Africa to the world stage.**
