In the wake of a shock 3-1 win for Nigeria’s cadet female national team, Flamingos, over back-to-back champions, Korea DPR, at the ongoing FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, captain of the side, Azeezat Oduntan, said they can’t relax just yet.
Sports247 reports that, rather than keep on celebrating the win that took them into the competition’s knockout stage as runners-up in their group, Sanusi said they ‘have to keep fighting’ because they ‘are not there yet.’
That surely is a reference to their first knockout fixture at the ongoing competition in Morocco, where Coach Akeem Busari’s team is now a squad to be wary of, as they edged on goal difference ahead of Poland, who defeated Nigeria 2-1 in their opening match.
While Poland eventually finished with no goal difference (following a 6-1 loss to Korea and a 6-2 win over Puerto Rico on Friday), Nigeria jumped into second spot with a plus-three goal difference (2-0 over Puerto Rico and 3-1 versus Korea).
However, while relishing how they made huge history on Friday night in Rabat, Oduntan admitted they just have to keep working hard, even as they seek to surpass the Flamingos’ set of 2022 that won bronze in India.
Expectations of a repeat now look quite realistic following Friday’s stunning win, which fifa.com captured in graphic style, while noting that Busari’s side sent a shortwave through the entire competition with their victory.
The report noted, “Nigeria pulled off a win for the ages by downing two-time defending champions DPR Korea. They opened the scoring through Oluwakemi Adegbuyi, who collected a ball down the left, muscled off a defender and finished with her right foot.
“The African side wanted more and struck for a second shortly before intermission when Oluebube Umejiaku surged through the DPR Korea half and finished past goalkeeper Kim Son-gyong.
“DPR Korea came out with a sense of urgency to start the second half, but Nigeria did well to withstand the pressure and then found a crippling third via Kanyinsola Yusuf’s exquisitely-taken free-kick. The reigning champions pulled a goal back through a late Yu Jong-hyang penalty conversion, but the day belonged to Nigeria.”
Oduntan said afterwards: “I’m super proud of my team-mates because they all came out and chose to play. We have to keep going and keep fighting. I feel excited but we are not there yet because we just qualified for the next round.”
Sports247 gathered further that Adegbuyi again slotted the ball inside Korea’s net in the 88th minute, but VAR ruled it out and, at the end of all the night of thrills, Kanyinsola Yusuf emerged as player of the match.
