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Flamingos Beat USA To Qualify For First-Ever Semi-final At U-17 World Cup

Flamingos Beat USA To Qualify For First-Ever Semi-final At U-17 World Cup

Nigeria’s Flamingos have qualified for the semi-finals of this year’s U-17 women’s World Cup in India after beating USA on penalties in Friday’s quarter-finals,Completesports.com reports.

After 90 minutes of football had ended 1-1, the game was decided via penalty shootout with the Flamingos triumphing 4-3 to qualify for a first-ever semi-final place.

The Flamingos will now meet either Columbia or debutant Tanzania in the semi-final slated for Wednesday, 26 October.

Omamuzo Edafe gave the Flamingos the lead in the 27th minute from the penalty spot, following a foul on Amina Bello inside the box.

Also Read: 10 Players You Won’t Believe Never Won Ballon d’Or

With five minutes left in the first half USA equalized thanks to Amalica Villarreal.

With both teams failing to find the winner in the second half the game went into penalties with the Americans missing twice and the Flamingos missed one of theirs.

And Edafe converted the winning spot kick to send Nigeria into the last four.

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COMMENTS

WORDPRESS: 46
  • Chris O. 2 years ago

    Wonderful Flamingo, give us More winning

  • seedorf 2 years ago

    Congrats girls. you made us proud

  • Peter 2 years ago

    Wow! That’s great. Thank God they’ve broken the jinx

  • Chima E Samuels 2 years ago

    For the first time in my life I witnessed a transparent officiating void of nepotism. Good win what’s next?

    • Greenturf 2 years ago

      I have never known a fairer officiating devoid of favouritism or discrimination.
      I would say thumbs up to the refree.I hope all African refrees will take a leaf from this world class referee.

  • Ideal 2 years ago

    Great girls. Fight on till the trophy is brought home.it will be a welcome to The New normal board.

  • Olujjjj 2 years ago

    Wat details again….I watch it . The game start with national anthem.. immediately there was thunder storm and the match had to be held up for another one halve hours .. on resumption of play the Nigerian team went ahead with a penalty by VAR .
    The referee was a darling. He is not biased . But the American ladies where to much for the Nigerian girls because the ball was played 70% in their 18yard or side as the case may be ..
    The Nigerian coaches new their limitations so they played 5 4 1 system and trust the American dey kept
    On coming and coming and coming like man city .or arsenal as the game developed. At about 5 mins to the end of game the Nigerian coach changed the keeper of his team preparing to penalty.which worked for his anyway
    The Americans where able to score 3 of theirs while the Nigerians ladies score 4 … The man or lady of the match I think shud go to edafe . He scored the winning penalty having scored the early in the game through VAR. She basically was a techno in taking penalty.
    Again thanks to the referee that stood by the rule of the game .. if it where to be an Arab or eastern European the ref would have given the game to the American with ease.

  • You have proved your worth young ladies…all thanks to God…the victory belongs to all Nigeria and all Nigerian irrespective of tribes or ethnicity…more wins to our gallant flamingos..one step at a time pls.

  • Dr. Drey 2 years ago

    Congrats to the Coach and te entire team.

    Take it or leave it, pretty or not, they now thread on grounds never before trodden by any U17 female team from Nigeria. That’s a feat if you ask me.

    Congratulations to them once again.

    Can this team be kept together and well nurtured for the future please….??

    • Emecco 2 years ago

      That our No 6, Shakirat Oyinlola is a solid centre back, Good on the ground, Good in the air, so so massive.

      • Greenturf 2 years ago

        As well Folorunsho.
        Folorunsho is a world class 16yrs old.The number 10 Afolabi is a maestro,though little in size i like her one touch football,she rarely kick the ball in the air.
        The Americans caged Ajakaiye by playing one defender behind her another close marking her which made her and the attack toothless.We were lucky with that penalty,in short it was our day.

      • Dr. Drey 2 years ago

        For their age and going by the quantum of football education available to young girls in Nigeria, these group of players play good enough football for u17s if you ask me. Believe me I dont think we can find u17s who have better ball sense than these.

        The CBs are solid and have good positional understanding, anticipation and legwork, the full backs also have good tactical awareness and confidence on the ball.

        The no 10 for me has been outstanding….she doesnt just lash at the ball anyhow, so much intelligence on the ball for her age. Can the NFF please, I repeat please, work with Asisat Oshoala and use her influence to attach this flamingoes’ no 10 and falconet’s no 10 (Onyenezide) to good clubs in Spain please. ….I know this is a possibility. They have been a light at the end of the dark tunnel for us. We haven’t produced so many midfields play makers in a long while, especially in our female national teams. Playing in a highly technical and tactical league like the Spanish Iberdola very early will groom them into midfield maestros like Xavi and Iniesta.

        The girl that wears jersey 8 (the captain) gets lost on the pitch most of the times, but I understand she’s the one that is saddled with doing all the dirty jobs in the background, but I believe she’s still really not there yet for her role.

        Etim, no 7 and Ajakaye will move to Europe soon…that I am sure of.

        I feel we are not seeing the best of the aforementioned yet because of the stale crude tactical approach of this coach. I believe a more fluid tactical set up will throw up these girls more as world beaters that then have the potentials of becoming in no distant time.

    • Papafem 2 years ago

      Bro, no successful Nigerian age grade team has ever, been kept together. There’s nothing here in Nigeria to keep them together; no structure, no proper club architecture or school programme to keep them intact. The female league in this country only operates for two months in a season, running on a wicked abdriged system.

      After this competition, all you’ll see are players fighting to go to Europe and those who couldn’t go might be lucky to be upgraded to the next age grade team, get invited to the national, get a few look in by some Nigerian clubs or simply disappear like a smoke in the air.

      That is what it is in Nigeria. We are experts in talent wasting. Certified killers of potentials. Reason I doff my cap for these kids. The American girls, German girls, come from a well structured system, which nurtures and pushes them into international limelight and absorbs them back for more improvement.

      These girls in the Flamingoes are products of an awkward system, where selection is purely based on recommendation from who knows who and not from an existing system where any foul play in selection or otherwise could easily be detected.

      I’m so happy for them, not only for doing well but for having that determination to change their family’s narratives. I congratulate them and wish them well as the tornamnet prograsses.

      • Dr. Drey 2 years ago

        We can at least try papafem. Our Atlanta 96 team had a combo of our Japan 93 U17 and Mauritius 95 U20 team. Our Finland 2003 u17 team was what Samson Siasia built on to raise the Netherlands 2005 U20 team which later grew into our Beijing 2008 squad. Manu Garba’s 2013 U17s too formed the bulk of the 2015 U20 team and should have formed a larger chunk of our Brazil 2016 or Tokyo 2020 U23s. This is what I meant by “keeping them together”

        I know its gonna be near impossible to just camp or board them together in one place. Of course, they all have different career paths which they would follow. But the NFF technical department would do well to continuously monitor their progress by keeping weekly scouting dossiers of their exploits wherever they are and working in close quarters with the youth national team coaches to keep tabs on their development, viz-a-viz where they are coming from and where they are expected to be as professionals. And while other emerging talents are equally being kept on the scouting radar for monitoring, these ones should form the bulk of the foundation of the next cadre of the national teams they will graduate into.

        This shouldn’t cost too much money to implement if the NFF knows their job at all.

        • Papafem 2 years ago

          Bro, NFF will do none of these. They’ve never done in the past, and may never do it. I was thinking the other day. Why can’t we have a high performance centre like they do in South Africa? Or a world class football academy like INF Clairefontaine in France.

          I watched a documentary on Freiburg’s approach to breeding footballing talents. That should be a classic model for any serious FA, because if that is copied and implemented in Nigeria, there will be an endless supply of talents to all our age grade teams, male or female; I mean players with the requisite skills to compete with the very best in the world.

          Why can’t the NFF send a delegation to study these academies, campaign for fund and fuse different elements in these institutions to create a suitable Nigerian hybrid, instead of waiting on independent academies across the country to form our national teams?

          Sanni Lulu was about the only NFF Chairman with any serious approach to greassroot football. His u13 and u15 back in 2011, 2012 led to the discovery of the likes of Awoniyi, Iheanacho, Isaac Success and even Francis Uzoho. The question now is: if that system worked then, even with it’s serious limitation, why won’t it work again if given the necessary attention?

          At a point in Ivory Coast, ASEC Mimosa had one of the best football academies in Africa. There was this pact they also had with a top flight club, Beveren, in Beligium for development of their graduates. Most of these kids, later formed the fulcrum of that football revolution in this West African country, leading to an endless supply of quality players to top European clubs through the exposure they got at Académie MimoSifcom which they consummated at Beveren.

          We couldn’t have known players like Emmanuel Eboue, Yaya Toure, and the likes if not for thus arrangement.

          Beveren – ASEC Mimosa relationship began in 2001 when Jean-Marc Guillou, a former ASEC manager moved to Beveren, Belgium in 2001. He took with him the very best footballing talents in the academy he helped establish in 1993, that is, Académie MimoSifcom of ASEC MIMOSA to Beveren and at a point almost the entire first team of Beveren FC comprised of Ivorian players from Académie MimoSifcom. Mind you, that was a team which at the time, was playing in Begian top flight league. Many of these Ivory Coast players left Beveren to top European teams, leaving Ivory Coast with a rich reservoire of players which later dominated the continent.

          Doesn’t our NFF have access to this information? Aren’t they aware that the narrative in the country could change if any of these models is adopted in Nigeria? Nigeria is far more blessed with players than Ivory Coast. In fact, the game is the most naturally developing sport in the country. There are players scattered every where, waiting to be harvested abd nurtured for the national teams. Why are football administrators in Nigeria sleeping on this? Let’s see what the new man has in place. Otherwise, it’s safe to say the vicious circle will never end.

  • MuYiwa 2 years ago

    Congrats to the girls. Sometimes you play beautiful football and still lose. We had plenty of possession against Netherlands at the U20 version and still lost 2-0. Hope this luck continues with us till the final match. Ako Amadi, Okponku and other tribal bigots should at least swallow their pride and congratulate this Yoruba team. lol.

    • Emecco 2 years ago

      @Muyiwa, pls forget about this Tribal thing for once, various tribes are represented in this team so what is your point ??

      • Mahmud Shuaib 2 years ago

        His point is that the two IDIOTIC TRIBAL BIGOTS should at least apologize to this FORUM for their bilefilled hate when the FLAMINGOS lost their fire match against GERMANY!

        The YORUBA FLAMINGOS have achieved what no NIGERIAN FLAMINGO has ever achieved in history; MAKE IT TO FIFA WOMEN U17 SEMI FINAL!

        I repeat, AKO AMADI and his foolish friend with the KENKEISH name; OKPONKU or OKPOROKO should bury their thoughtless heads in SHAME!

        CONGRATULATIONS to the Coach and his lass

        I can see people aren’t giving credit to a Coach who has masterminded Victories over CHILE and the much feared USA!

    • okponku 2 years ago

      @Mahmud you still have mouth to talk? infarct your shame is shaming me!! The hatred and jealous you guys have for the Igbos is a very big setback for that Nation. Can*t you, see? how the inclusion of an Igbo Player saved the Nation. Always give honor to whom honor belongs.

      • Mahmud Shuaib 2 years ago

        You are clearly deluded and suffering from INFERIORITY COMPLEX..Iam a proud DAKARKARE from Zuru in KEBBI State. No player of NORTHERN extraction is in that team and it doesn’t matter to me in as much as the flag is GREEN WHITE GREEN

        Apart from you suffering from acute self-hate, who here did you notice talk down on other tribes aside you and your AKO AMADI

        Some of the most famous forumites here like DR DREY, DEO, POMPEI, PAPAFEM, OMO9JA, YINKUS, DESTAR, AYPHILLYDEGREAT etc are YORUBAS while the IGBOS are represented by OAKFIELD, CHIMA SAMUELS, forgotten the other passionate IGBO guy’s name now. One thing is that DR DREY defends MADUKA OKOYE, AHMED MUSA more than he does AWONIYI, JUNIOR AJAYI etc who are YORUBAS

        UGO IWUNZE (the name I forgot earlier) or is it CHIMA SAMUELS is an unrepentant fan of ASHLEY PLUMPTRE, a YORUBA

        So, don’t come here with your TRIBALISM and pollute this beautiful forum

  • Na WA for CSN, which one be details later again? Meaning you didn’t follow the match. Congratulations to our girls jare, they did excellently well, soak alot of pressure to win. Kudos to them

  • Wonder shall never end, i never ever give this girls chance to make it past USA. I did not even bother to follow them up again. But all the same a good news and glimpse of hope that something good may still happen to our football before the end of the year.

    My word of advice is for them to keep improving and who knows they might just lift the trophy.

  • Omo9ja 2 years ago

    Congratulations to our Flamingos. Let’s goooo. The trophy is ours in sha Allah. Ameen. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!

  • Glory 2 years ago

    Just amazing, soooo amazing. Feels with joy especially beating USA to the semi final. The girls n coaching crew have already satisfied/ made my year as it concerns NIGERIA FOOTBALL. A BIG BIG CONGRATULATION TO THE ENTIRE TEAM.

  • Monday Odang 2 years ago

    This is wonderful. So fulfilled with this Ladies in Football. Congratulations!!!

  • DeSTAR 2 years ago

    Big Congrats to the worthy and amazing warriors; to be candid ; I didn’t watch the match because I was frightened; how could we have been paired against the almighty USA and in the quarterfinal that we have never gone beyond.

    This is what resiliency, picking players on merit irrespective of tribes can achieve.

    Kudos to the entire players and the worthy Coaching crew ….. my advice is the players should not give in to the usual Nigerian’s complacency; not to rest on their oars , but should be focused on the next Match 

    Wishing them best of luck ahead 

  • Ahhhh me still looking for time and where to watch and gbam I saw breaking news, wow wow and wow congrat young ladies, now we need the cup and yes it’s achievable. And congrat to the new FA board, luck they said goes a long way in all we do.

  • Congratulations!! to flamingos they finally broke the quarter final barrier and the reason while i am happy the more is because the future of super falcons is bright no more looking for players in the nearest future.

  • rePLaY 2 years ago

    In all fairness, fifa should cancel this under age tournament. It is embarrassing

  • Baller 101 2 years ago

    You have to beat the best to be the best… Go for the trophy young ladies; you got this! So proud of you!

  • Johnson 2 years ago

    The emilokan babes were simply amazing, not really easy to tame the free scoring Americans and going ahead to defeat them. CONGRATS NIGERIA!

    • Fanny 2 years ago

      Emilokan indeed. Didn’t you see Edafe and Erin there? Good luck niger area baes.

  • Well done Flamingoes. It was said in certain quarters that it will take a miracle for this team to make a meaningful impact in this tournament. Well, miracles do come through.

  • USA outscored Nigeria on shots at goal 27-8 but only 3 on target
    Corners 15 – 4

    As they crashed out, they used all the 18 players and Nigerian coach only brings on Etim.

    Coach couldn’t free Ajakaye when she was out marked. Grit and fortune won this for us.

  • Oakfield 2 years ago

    Well done gals. Wish u all the best and above all favour which is what saw u guys through in today’s match against the americans.

  • Dr Banks 2 years ago

    These beautiful Angels really made my week, missed the match due to work but washed the highlights now, and I am so delighted at their doggedness and 9ja fighting spirit. Kudos to the entire team.

    They have reached a milestone never reached b4 at this level, keep on soaring lasses to the final until you grab the cup back home 

    Congratulations to all forumites and Nigerians in general

  • Monte 2 years ago

    The funniest thing is how people on this forum know within their hearts that these women are not the teenagers they claim to be. In fact, you are not deceiving the world but yourselves, it is so shameful

    • Footballfanatic 2 years ago

      Dude you no go rest? You’ve been saying the same bullshit since our first game…..Is it cuz Ghana didn’t qualify lol? Atleast let’s wait and see where they will be in 5 years from now. You have no proof that they are overaged. I despise age cheating too and some of their faces look older but with no proof or MRI no one has the right to falsely accuse them when you no be their mama or papa…..So guy rest. The future will tell.

  • Ikeben 2 years ago

    When most fans on complete Sports was predicting failure in quarter final. I remain positive and pleading with Nigerian fans to cease from been always negative. Let’s always see the good in our stars and hope for the best. It goes a long way in bringing out the best in our Sports men and women. Congratulations once again to our stars.

  • Most of these girls do not come from some “Butter” background like their counterparts in Europe, Asia or America. Most of them are from “Paki” background. They most likely did not have access to the kind of nutrition other players in this tournament had access to. When the nutrition is not correct and you are subjected to the kind of rigours that footballing entails at a young age, it might tell on your body. Have a close look at these girls and you will see that “PHYSIOLOGICALLY” (pay close attention to that word, If you know you know) most of them truly appear like under 20 at least.

  • Respect is reciprocal 2 years ago

    Whoever says these girls are over age without no proof will never know pea e and success in life . Such a person is a failure. What makes them overage is it because their faces look old due to malnutrition frustration stress and anxiety. I have a girl of 10 years in Canada grade 5 if you see in jeans nobody would believe she is not in Nigeria university if she were to be in Nigeria. So please I will curse anyone that says these girls are overage and I mean it unless such a person brings out evidence to support this . Why are we blacks joy killers. You claim they are over age yet they can not kick ball very well afar. They fall at every contact with the usa . Crazy people. I know your problem success hater you want them to be good looking like oyinbo when they don’t ear the same food . When was the last time they drank milk . Merely looking at the shape if their mouths you will notice these girls dey suffer with garri I don’t mean to disrespect them but just to tell us that if we can get it right with our government I tell you Nigeria should be in the class of Germany Brazil and France. Talk if any football competition you will always see Nigeria performing. Football is in our DNA

  • Kunle 2 years ago

    @johnson in simplicity, Emilokan Emilokan Emilokan, flamingos wey do well na im be Emilokan.

    • Momodu 2 years ago

      It is their turn, accept it. However, I’m rooting for Tinubu as the next president. Meanwhile, kudos emi gals.

  • Bello 2 years ago

    Those ones fit still remember referendum so? Go bring that cup home to Nigeria my dearies. God bless Nigerians and her neighbors.


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