Nigeria’s female cadet national team, Flamingos have quickly turned their attention towards Tuesday’s second match at the 2026 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, following a defeat by Poland in their first fixture.
Sports247 reports that a 2-1 slump to the East Europeans in Rabat, Morocco puts Coach Akeem Busari and his lasses in a tight spot, as their group also has the defending champions, Korea DPR, but the soft-spoken tactician is keeping his fingers crossed.
However, heading into the next game on Tuesday, the former head coach at Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) of Ibadan admitted his players will have to double their efforts against the team from Central America.
It comes after Poland shot ahead via a penalty in the 33rd minute, following a VAR review and, though they had a 63rd minute effort ruled out for offside, Natalia Skrok extended their lead two minutes later when she benefitted from a poor clearance in the Nigerian defence.
Busari responded with a double substitution in the 68th minute, as Oluebube Umejiaku and Awawu Bashiru went in for skipper of the side, Harmony Chidi and Mary Dunstan, plus two more ten minutes later, as Kanyinsola Yusuf and Precious Oscar replaced Queen Joseph and Anne Adesuyi.
The changes paid off in the 79th minute when Yusuf pulled one back for the Flamingos, who later gained hope for an equaliser by appealing for a penalty in the 86th minute following an incident involving Kemi Adegbuyi, but the referee overruled it after another review.
Poland held on to pick all three points, thereby leaving the Flamingos in dire need of victory when they face Puerto Rico in their next Group B fixture on Tuesday before a last group fixture with Korea on Friday.
