Match officials for Saturday’s 2022 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup qualifying match between the U17 girls of Nigeria and those of the Democratic Republic of Congo will arrive in Nigeria on Thursday.
Beninoise official Laurande Offin Kayode has been selected by the Confederation of African Football to be referee for the match, alongside her compatriots Nafissatou Yekini Shitou (assistant referee 1), Djaria Bio Yacoubou (assistant referee 2) and Aurore Christelle Ligan (fourth official). The match commissioner is Christine Ziga from Ghana.
The encounter is one of the second round, second leg of the African series for the championship to be hosted by India in the month of October. Nigeria’s Flamingos took the wind off the sails of the Congolese in the fixture by winning the first leg in Kinshasa 3-0 on Sunday, 6th March.
Midfielder Blessing Emmanuel, defender Tumininu Adeshina and forward Opeyemi Ajakaiye shared the goals among themselves at the Stade de Matrys, and the impression of an attack-minded squad in which anyone is capable of scoring subsists for Saturday’s game at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City.
The Flamingos arrived in Benin City on Tuesday evening, with Coach Bankole Olowookere insisting his girls will go all out for victory despite the massive advantage from the opening leg.
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“There is no complacency in our camp. Every match must be approached with the mentality of gaining victory. We did well in Kinshasa but the girls wasted a number of scoring chances and we have been working on that. Clinical precision is key for any team that wants to win matches and tournaments.”
The winner on aggregate after Saturday’s encounter will earn a place in the third round of the series, where the U17 girls of Egypt await, in the month of April. The final round of the qualifiers will be in May.
This year’s FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup finals, the seventh edition since it was launched in New Zealand in 2008, will take place in India, 11th – 30th October.
Nigeria have missed only one edition of the tournament (the 2018 finals in Uruguay) but participated in the 2008, 2010 (Trinidad & Tobago), 2012 (Azerbaijan), 2014 (Costa Rica) and 2016 (Jordan) championships.
The 2020 finals, scheduled for India, were annulled by the global coronavirus pandemic.
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COMMENTS
Nigeria U-17 women’s team aka the Flamingoes touched down this Tuesday in Benin Edo State aboard Arik Airline ahead of 2022 U-17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers.
Nigeria defeated DR Congo 3-0 in Kinshasa on 6th March. They will now square off in return leg which is scheduled to hold on Saturday, 19th March at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin.
With all due respect to the Congolese team, I believe an aggregate victory for Nigeria’s teenagers is more or less a forgone conclusion in this contest. But they still need to be watchful and alert as anything can happen in football.
The Congolese ladies will be hurting from the result of the first leg (as they had expected t so do better) so I expect them to approach this match like a wounded animal. In truth, they had their moments in Kinshasa but Nigeria’s Flamingos just had that bit more quality and fire power.
Perhaps coach Bankole can give some fringe players the opportunity to showcase their talents. We have already seen how deadly the likes of Blessing Emmanuel, defender Tumininu Adeshina and forward Opeyemi Ajakaiye can produce in front of goal. Having strength in-depth in the squad will augur well for how far they can go in this qualifiers and indeed how well they will perform in India if indeed the scale the qualifiers hurdle.
The winners across both legs will lock horns with Egypt in the next round of qualifiers.
It is reported that the Flamingoes had their training today at 4pm at Western High School in Benin. They were said to have been in high spirit as they practiced drills and worked on their blending ahead of the weekend’s encounter against Congo.
The team will then have their morning and evening training session at the Ogbemudia Stadium on Thursday.
Their training ground will be open for content acquisition and the players will also be available for interviews.
An aggregate win for them against Congo on Saturday will make it a hat-trick of victories for Nigeria across the Under-17 and Under-20 teams this March: the Flamingos 3:0 drubbing of Congo on 6 March was followed by Falconets 3:1 spanking of Senegal on 12 March.
I am so hoping that both teams will qualify for this respective world cups later this year where they will be expected to do the nation proud with thier flamboyant, expressive and solid brand of football.
Thank God it’s Nigerian that will be officiating lol…