Flamingos head coach, Bankole Olowookere has lauded his players for their impressive performance in the team’s victory against United States of America on Friday.
The Flamingos sailed through to the semi-finals at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup after a thrilling 4-3 penalty shootout win against the Americans.
The game was tied at 1-1 after 90 minutes.
Read Also:2022 U-17 WWC: Plumptre Congratulates Flamingos For Picking Semi-final Ticket
” I’m happy with the win, there is nothing I can give Nigerians than to win the game,” Olowookere said after the game.
“We are happy with the team, no one gave us a chance but we aren’t destined to go out in the quarter final.
“I’m happy, we have good future ahead of us.”
The Flamingos will face the winner of the quarter-final tie between Colombia and Tanzania in the semi-final.
18 Comments
Every game has its own tactics. It is better to play disjointed and win than to play fluid and beautiful and lose wotowoto. I have watched Bacelona and Mancity the best teams in terms of tiki taka park the bus sometimes just to achieved a win in a particular game. So it is an absolute portray of football ineptitude for some fans to come here crying that the team was lucky to win . That the coach lack tactics. Are u crazy. Can u win a female football power house like the USA by cheer luck? Pls if u don’t know how to read games better go and sleep than come here to vomit nonsense. On that game Nigeria had the best tactics and they scored first , defended well and won. Big hugs and congrats to the coaches and the girls
Bros no mind some of our Nigerian people na ignorance they worry am E no Sabi read game whuch female football team for these world go fit beat this almighty USA team without stress abeg our super flamingo too go try hate tomb up for una joor. May God guide una to win these trophy for Nigeria God bless Nigeria and the super flamingo crew and team.
Point of correction, the performance was not impressive as USA outplayed Nigeria especially in the first half. I saw a bit of resilience in the second half. Like I commented while the match was going on, the state of the pitch affected the play of both teams as the players were falling due to slippery pitch. I would have loved a situation where the pitch was good enough for free flowing soccer to actually size both teams. Nigeria was just very lucky on this day even with the shootouts but that is not to say that the coach did not deploy some tactics that held the rampaging Americans at bay. And although the team broke a record by this very lucky penalty victory against unarguably one of the favourites, they should not carried away, whether they were written off before the game or not. Focus is the key work to break more records. Special thanks to the substitute goalkeeper for her composure throughout the shootouts, cos I doubt if the result would have been the same should the first choice goalkeeper have been in goal for the shootouts!
Correction: ***The key word to break…****
Some of you Nigerians will not cease to amaze me. And it’s usually those of you who are ethnic bigots who sees nothing good in anyone not from your tribe,
@Chudynak, you said the girls only won by luck against USA who has so far scored 13 goals in 3 matches. so preventing them to score more than 1 goal is a great feat. Luck can only help to some extent only, you have to put in equal effort to get results like this
Congratulations to the girls
The girls are not done yet just watchout their match against Colombia and they shall smile too.Those that gave their effort to luck against America should better start looking for another word to use.
Seems u don’t know football. What makes a performance impressive is victory.Correct urself. In football its the outcome that matters not how u possess the ball. People like u are the ones who go about confusing fans and coaches who cannot stand their ground.
Why are you even responding to this tribalist. He has being condemning the team from the first day the team list came out. So he is ashamed of himself that they got this far. Obviously like you said, he knows nothing about football. The coach clearly knew he couldn’t go toe to toe with the USA and opted to counter attacking them. Please you are free to thrash your TV if you seeking more beautiful football
Oga, penalty victory in a match you were clearly outclassed can never and will never be impressive! There was even a clear bias against the USA in the shootouts. Correct me if I am wrong. In fact, if not for the direct penalty shootout without extra time for this age grade competition, the outcome could have been a mauling of Nigeria during extra time. A match that may have caused some fans high blood pressure. Impressive my foot!
Nothing like a biased against the USA girls pls watch the penalty kicks again , the keeper actually left the the foal line before the ball was kicked
Even with the extra time, US could still have lost. That’s the truth. Nigerian girls are naturally strong, stronger than most of their counterparts around the world. At AWCON 2022, Morocco, playing at home couldn’t break a 9-woman Nigerian team in 120 minutes. They had to rely on penalty shootout and all their devilish theatrics to win the match. That’s a typical Nigerian team for you, irrespective of the age or gender. Let’s encourage them. It’s only in Nigeria a team will create records and do the the unthinkable but still end up been dragged by some mischievous elements. History will not remember how the game was played but who won! No matter the hatred or condemnation, truth is for the first time in the history of the competition, Nigeria has qualified for the semi final. That’s all that matters for now. If you don’t like that, find a river close to your house and jump into it. Guess that will help.
Even with 27 shots of US against Nigeria’s 8, you still call it effective tactics. They were not clinical enough. Extra time would have exposed the lack of depth in the squad. A coach who is afraid to try new substitutes to rest the tired ones is an inept one.
Now Bello was stretched off.
Grit and luck saved the day for us. Performance yesterday was aching my eyes because the ladies were tired and overlaboured
Are you watching our next opposition Columbia now?
I cannot agree less @Sly. Had the competition accommodated extra time, the story would have different. The match stats prove as much!
Forget, what they can’t do in the whole 90monutes. Why waiting for the extra time. Well done Flamingos, you are the superior team. Up Coach Olowokere for good tactics. More wins.
Congrats coach for breaking the jinx..
Your team will go on record as the first to reach the semis in this competition.
Now, it’s time to make necessary adjustments before the next match.
Goodluck.
Africans with their self-destruct stupidity. African teams are not the only ones with overage players, South American and Asian teams are the worst in age cheating, they know it and they will not admit it, and you all are here accusing each other even some Ghanians are accusing Nigeria while Ghana is the worst in age cheating; all African teams , Asian teams and South American teams have some overage players in their teams.Anybody that doubts me should watch any under-17 or 21 teams from those regions if they look their ages, some are already playing in big clubs. Asia and South Americans don’t have standerdized age registration database like here in U.S, Canada and the U.K. They register their kids at birth quite alright but can be changed or falsified at anytime, mostly the Brazillians, yes brazil, i have friend from Brazil and say that too.Let’s ask ouselves this question, ‘ at wwhat age did these Asians and South Americans kids graduates from high school (secondary schools) ?’, some are even playing for clubs and also playing at u-17 world cup. Moreover, just because somebody is 2 or 3 years older than you is not an excuse to lose; i am not in any way supporting age cheating in soccer, i am just stating the obvious. MRI test is used to detect bone density withing 3 to 4 years bracket, it does not predict accurate age, so you are still going to see 18,19 and 20 year old pass the test and playing for the U-17, not just in African, but in Asia and South America too. However, having some overage players doesen’t guaratee doing well especially if they are not talented. Nigeria won age grade tournaments, especially at u-17 because we have talents not because of age cheats. How come other countries with overage players don’t win it?, not every player is overage in a team as people presumed.
Standardized, friends, ourselves.
Forget, what they can’t do in the whole 90monutes. Why waiting for the extra time. Well done Flamingos, you are the superior team. Up Coach Olowokere for good tactics. More wins.