Former Flamingos head coach Bankole Olowookere has backed Nigeria to recover from their 2-1 defeat to Poland at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco, insisting that the opening setback could help the team address its weaknesses before the remaining group matches.
The Flamingos face Puerto Rico in their second Group B fixture on Tuesday, October 20, needing a positive result to revive their hopes of advancing to the knockout stage.
Olowookere believes the opening result should not be regarded as the end of Nigeria’s qualification ambitions, arguing that early victories do not always guarantee progression.
“It doesn’t really matter as such, from my own tactical view of the situation,” he said.
“If you win the first match and you lose two matches, of what difference is it? But for you to lose the first match and go ahead to win the remaining two matches, this is very, very important.”
The former coach, who guided Nigeria to a historic third-place finish at the 2022 tournament in India, stressed that the defeat offers the technical crew an opportunity to reassess the team’s approach.
“In a game like this, you lose the first match, I think it gives you room to make a lot of corrections,” he explained.
“It gives you room to be able to go back to the drawing board, to pull out where the mistakes come from and work on the strength of the team.”
Nigeria and Puerto Rico enter Tuesday’s encounter without a point after the Caribbean side suffered a 6-0 defeat to defending champions North Korea in their opening fixture.
The Flamingos will subsequently face North Korea on Friday, October 23, in their final group match.
Olowookere believes lessons from the Poland defeat can help Nigeria produce a stronger performance against Puerto Rico.
“Going into the second match will be far better than the first match,” he maintained.
With two group fixtures remaining, the Flamingos must respond quickly to keep their World Cup qualification hopes alive.
