Head Coach Bankole Olowookere has invited 35 players to camp as the U17 Girls National Team, Flamingos commence preparations for the 7th FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup taking place in India in the month of October.
Team captain Alvine Dah-Zossu, first choice goalkeeper Faith Omilana, regular defenders Miracle Usani, Blessing Sunday, Comfort Folorunsho and Tumininu Adeshina, midfielders Blessing Emmanuel and Taiwo Afolabi, and forwards Opeyemi Ajakaye and Aminat Bello are among those told to report at the Serob Legacy Hotel, Wuye, Abuja on Tuesday 30th August 2022 with their training kits, medical certificate of fitness and international passport.
The Flamingos conquered the challenges of Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt and Ethiopia to qualify for this year’s FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, winning five of their six matches in the process.
The 7th FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup finals will be staged in India 11th – 30th October 2022.
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ALL THE INVITED PLAYERS:
Goalkeepers: Faith Omilana (Naija Ratels); Linda Jiwuaku (Confluence Queens); Jessica Chikamso (Rivers Angels); Uchechi Onyechere (Heartland Queens); Comfort Erhabor (UK-based)
Defenders: Miracle Usani (Abia Angels); Tumininu Adeshina (Naija Ratels); Iniobong Umanah (Nasarawa Amazons); Olamide Oyinlola (Naija Ratels); Confidence Nwora (Nasarawa Amazons); Comfort Folorunsho (Delta Queens); Mamuzo Edafe (Rivers Angels); Immaculate Effiong (Abia Angels); Ekezie Onyedikachi (Heartland Queens); Blessing Sunday (Edo Queens); Marylin Essien (Rivers Angels)
Midfielders: Alima Alasse (IFK Goteborg, Sweden); Bisola Mosaku (Kazeem Eletu Queens); Blessing Emmanuel (Naija Ratels); Taiwo Afolabi (Delta Queens); Mary Aderemi (Bayelsa Queens); Chidera Okenwa (Abia Angels)
Forwards: Daniella Alali (LA Galaxy, USA); Tolulope Adubairo (Arsenal Women, England); Amarachi Ndudim (Abia Angels); Mary Lucky (Heartland Queens); Edidiong Etimi (Bayelsa Queens); Ijeoma Onweagba (Ibom Angels); Odinaka Odoh (Honey Badgers); Opeyemi Ajakaye (FC Robo Queens); Aminat Bello (Naija Ratels); Alvine Dah-Zossu (Osun Babes); Kafayat Bashiru (Bayelsa Queens); Yetunde Ayantosho (Osun Babes); Udeme Ukoh (Ibom Angels)
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COMMENTS
In this initial 35 woman list, Coach Bankole has already taken a different path from his counterpart in Under 20 Falconets, coach Danjuma. The list harbours no less than 4 foreign based players and other homebased professionals who didn’t play any part in the qualifiers.
This augurs well for the potential depth of skills and talents that the final world cup squad would encompass.
The foreign based players are:
– Strikers: Daniella Alali (LA Galaxy, USA); Tolulope Adubairo (Arsenal Women, England).
– Midfielder: Altima Alasse (IFK Goteborg, Sweden
– Goalkeeper: Comfort Erhabor (UK-based)
These inclusions suggest to me that Coach Bankole has made the key distinctions between the demands of qualifiers and the technical challenges of tournament football leading to him casting his net farther and wider.
Also, some of those foreign based players might serve as embryos for future Super Falcons squad. Perhaps one of Danjuma’s shortcomings was the over-reliance on the same players who prosecuted the Under 20 world cup qualifiers.
Bankole is doing things differently here and I hope it pays off.
Like the Falconets, Bankole’s Flamingos bastardised all oppositions on the continent in qualifying for this tournament. The likes of Ethiopia, Egypt and Congo DR were all put to the sword. In October, Bankole’s babes will have to do it all again on the world stage.
Unlike the Falconets who have attained 2 podium finishes in the Under 20 women’s world cup, the Flamingos are yet to attain such a milestone. In fact, they remain the only ones in Nigeria’s age grade national teams across gender yet to win any medals – gold, silver or bronze – for Nigeria.
Bankole and his girls will hope to right thing this wrong in India by doing things slightly differently. And, by drawing on a wider pool of players to pick from to prosecute the tournament, he is threading on interesting grounds.
Hopefully the NFF will line up quality friendlies for the team ahead of the tournament. Bankole should then whittle down the list to a killer squad of brutal female warriors.
All Nigeria stakeholders are rooting for the team to succeed so that one of our national teams can help fans to end the year on a bouyant note.
Some of you Nigerians just love to hump onto anything ‘foreign’. SMH
Have you actually watched any of those foreign-based players to see if they are up to standard? Fortunately, the LA girl is on YouTube and she would struggle to roster for any decent side in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the 15/16-year-old who led the NWFL Nationwide League in scoring (and won MVP and Topscorer at the Queens Cup tournament), Harmony Achifula, is not given any consideration to compete in camp.
Personally, I still welcome the inclusion of dual nationality players in the initial 35 woman list of the Flamingos. Admittedly it is a challenge to come across footage of all of these players but I want to believe that Bankole and his scouts have done their due diligence before extending invitations to all the players.
Harmony Achifula does look like a real prospect. I want to believe that the Bankole led management team have their reasons for not looking at her direction on this occasion. Hopefully her chances will come in future Falconets set up if she continues to improve.
Some of us Nigerians indeed love to hump into criticizing others while failing to acknowledge shortcomings in our own write ups.
Btw, Coach Danjuma called up 30 players to compete for 21 squad spots.
The real “shortcoming” would have been trying cobble together an largely new squad about a month before the WC (particularly knowing that the NFF would not be arranging for any meaningful pre-WC friendlies). I suspect that, after all is said and done, Coach Olowookere would similarly largely retain the existing squad.
It is truly not inconceivable to expect Bankole’s final squad to be largely made up of the the players who prosecuted the qualifiers. However I won’t bet against the inclusion of a few fresh faces – something I will welcome wholeheartedly.
The real intellectual “shortcoming” is to erroneously think that any fan would want the coach to “cobble” together a ragtag squad one month to the world cup.
Although coach Danjuma initially invited 30 players, I don’t think his final squad included any fresh face. Well, that’s his prerogative. But in international football over the years, more often than not, the final squads to the main tournaments often include one or more players who didn’t feature in qualifiers. This is not an alien concept.
If coach Bankole does not include any fresh faces in his final squad, we will support him all the same.
Is it this same team that qualified with an offside goal against Ethiopia? I hope there are fundamental changes to the squad otherwise their showing will not be any different from the below-par showing of the Falconets
You are all talking about falconets and Flamingos, what about Super falcons that have a friendly match with world power house USA next week and yet to submit any list till now. Even USWNT had submitted theirs before the end of women nation’s cup. Roughly a month to 2 now.
There are reports the coach is unsure of his job, whether he will be continuing as the coach or not. So who releases the squad list? Confused NFF
Wetin concern them with friendly. They worried about the upcoming elections and how money would be shared.
Why didnt they include Sabastine from falconets since she’s still 17years. She could have been a good step up for the competition.