Flamingos head coach, Bankole Olowookere was happy to see his side maintain their hundred percent record at the ongoing FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
Olowookere’s side defeated hosts Dominican Republic 1-0 in their last group game on Wednesday morning.
Shakirat Moshood scored the winning goal for Nigeria in the 89th minute.
Read Also:U-17 WWC: Flamingos Beat Dominican Republic 1-0, To Face USA In Quarter-finals
The Flamingos finished top of Group A with nine points from three games.
“I’m so happy, I’m happy for myself, happy for the team and happy for the whole of Nigeria,” he was quoted by FIFA.com.
“We knew in this match we had to manage our energy and strength; these are young girls with many games to play so we had to take it easy.”
Nigeria will face United States of America in the quarter-finals on Saturday night.
By Adeboye Amosu
3 Comments
Am proud of you ladies come Saturday I see you ladies putting smiles on we Nigerians.
I sure hope so Martin. We usually defeat the United States at this level; I hope this time won’t be different.
Has The Falconets Reached The End of The Road?
I think Coach Bankole has every reason to be pleased and delighted at the accomplishments of his team thus far in the tournament.
After the group stages, a Nigerian – the smooth operating sleek-on-legs Shakirat Moshood – is the temporary highest goals scorer with 4 hits. The Flamingos are among an elite group who navigated their group stage unsullied and undefeated with a truck load of goals to boot.
Not to put too fine a point on it, the teams we faced in the group stages are average teams we should be subduing on a good day.
But, the business end now begins; never again in the tournament will Nigeria face whipping girls whom they left weeping in their group.
If they somehow manage to bring USA to heel, they are likely to face the merciless North Korea in the semi-final, a team who left nothing but sorrow, tears and blood in their wake in the group stages. This North Korea are experience something of a resurgence in age-grade tournament having just lifted the U-20 Women’s World Cup and spanking a tough England 4:0 to cruise through their group undefeated. They are the sure favorites to lift the trophy in my books.
Then, in all probability, Spain will lie in wait in the final, should we make it that far.
To say Coach Bankole has his work cut out from here-on-in will be an understatement.
In the last group stage match against Dominican Republic, Bankole elected to use that game as target practice for long range shots. This strategy on the surface appeared disrespectful to Dominican Republic, irritated the commentator and angered some fans.
But I had no problem with it. We all know that, in women’s football, long range shots are a staple and have higher probability of catching out dozing goalkeepers. So, it was reassuring to me to see Shakirat Moshood making all the practice pay off at the end of the match by detonating the net with her scorcher from a disrespectful range for the only goal.
On the case of Moshood, this young lady is a fascinating fuselage containing a crew of eloquently extraordinary attacking skills, aptitude and attributes with or without the ball, all contained within a cabin possibilities, opportunities and promise sure to power her in flight beyond the clouds of greatness, achievements and accomplishments, starting from this tournament. When she attacks a space and connects with ferocity and precision, she instantly grabs your attention and locks it in place for the duration.
If properly utilised in the knock-out phase, Coach Bankole has nuclear weapon in this lady.
It was nice to see Bankole try out the partnership of Ramota Kareem and Blessing Ifitezue up front in the last match. Blessing showed pace, power and ambition whilst Kareem must learn to hold her run, time her movements and not be caught offside often. As a typical Nigerian woman, she must also learn how to “hustle”. She appeared content to wait for good service but she must go out fishing for service when isolated. I think Blessing showcased her talent more and showed what she offers when called upon. Low work-rate seems to be stifling the immense talent the taller Ramota undoubtedly possesses.
Their approach in the last match benefited from movements without the ball and passes that seamlessly integrated with the fabric of the formation which allowed them to dictate the play and tempo and create openings. However, I still feel they were and are vulnerable in midfield when the 4-4-2 becomes 4-2-4 as wingers Moshood and Animashaun move closer to the 2 centre-forwards. This leaves them in a precarious position when they are counter-attacked.
The wingers and strikers sometimes over-estimate their dribbling and take-on abilities. Even a weak team like Dominican Republic either double-teamed on Nigerian strikers or effectively time their tackles to collect the ball from Nigeria.
A few miscommunication moments at the back could have been punished by Dominican Republic but will definitely be ruthlessly exploited by the likes of USA, North Korea and Spain.
Hopefully Bankole will be able to drill positional discipline and attention to details across the park to his team. If he does, then they will go places.