By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
Nigeria’s junior women’s football team, Flamingos have crashed out of the 2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Dominican Republic as they saw their impressive journey in the competition come to an end after a hard-fought 0-2 quarter-final loss to the United States of America (USA) on Saturday.
One goal in each half by Kennedy Fuller 43′ (P) and Kimmi Ascanio 74′ ensured that Team USA got a deserved revenge against Nigeria following their defeat at the same stage two years ago in India.
Indeed, it was the first face-off between the two nations since Nigeria famously edged out the Americans in the quarter-finals of the 2022 edition of the tournament as Flamingos ran away with 4-3 win after penalties.
Prompt News reports that from the start of the match, both teams displayed an intense competitive spirit, but the Americans ultimately capitalized on their opportunities to punish the Africans.
Perhaps, the turning point of the encounter came in the 43′ when Fuller converted a penalty which gave her country a 1-0 lead at half time just as despite Nigeria’s attempts to equalize, the second half saw the Flamingos unable to break through a resilient American defense.
The pressure culminated in the 74′ when Kimmi Ascanio found the back of the net, doubling the lead and securing a semifinal berth for Team USA.
Flamingos had been a formidable force throughout the tournament, defeating both New Zealand and Ecuador in the group stage with decisive victories.
Coach Bankole Olowookere’s wards had approached this quarter-final with high hopes, having previously been one of the few African teams to reach the sem-finals in the tournament’s history but had to surrender to the superior firepower of the Americans on Saturday.
Statistics clearly showed that Team USA had an edge over Flamingos as USA had 10 shots on target to Nigeria’s three in 90′ while they had 58%
ball possession to Nigeria’s 42%; 417 passes to 311 and pass accuracy of 71% to 63% respectively.
The loss marks the end of what has been a promising campaign for the Nigerians, who were aiming to improve on their 2022 third-place finish and maybe win Silver or Gold this time around but all that dreams have evaporated like the early morning dews.
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