Nigeria’s female cadet national team, Flamingos’ coach, Bankole Olowookere has confessed that his side dropped into a tight spot at the ongoing FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco because of their 4-1 loss to Canada.
Sports247 reports that Olowookere went philosophical ahead of his team’s last group match versus Samoa on Saturday, with a verdict that losing heavily in their first game was a huge blow to their qualification aspirations, which now depends on a miracle to come true.
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Although the Nigerian team also lost 1-0 to France in their second game, Olowookere took consolation from what he referred to as a better show of fighting spirit by his players, which he believes could help them snatch the required win against Samoa.
He equally noted that defeating Samoa with a heavy margin (starting at 5pm Nigeria time on Saturday) could see the Flamingos qualify for the next round as one of the best third placed teams after the competition’s group stage.
“We just have to see if we can get something out of the best losers’ opportunity with this game against Samoa,” the soft-spoken tactician acknowledged.
“We just have to work hard and see if we can play better again. The way we played against France was better than what we did against Canada.
“If we had put up a good fight against Canada, we won’t be in the position we are now. So, we just have to work hard and see if we can remain in the competition,” Olowookere projected.
Sports247 gathered that Nigeria’s hope of picking a ticket as one of the best third placed teams got a boost with China’s spanking of Ecuador on Friday, but the Flamingos have to keep their own part of the task by defeating Samoa at least 2-0 on Saturday
