Head Coach Bankole Olowookere said on Friday that Nigeria’s U17 girls, Flamingos, will aspire to win big in their FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup final qualifying round, first leg encounter against their Algerian counterparts on Saturday, in order to reduce the pressure ahead of next week’s return leg duel in North Africa.
“We have been working very hard to correct the lapses noticed in our last matches (against South Africa), and we believe we are in good form to achieve a handsome win here and then go all out in the second leg in Algeria,” Olowookere told thenff.com.
“I have always told the girls that no two matches are the same, so the fact that we beat South Africa home-and-away does not mean we will rest on our oars in this final round. We have to keep our feet on the ground, and keep working harder, bonding better and aiming higher. Our mission is to pick the FIFA World Cup ticket, and go to Morocco to make Nigeria proud.”
Saturday’s encounter comes up at the Remo Stars Stadium, Ikenne-Remo, where the Flamingos turned back South Africa’s Bantwana 2-0 following a 3-1 hammering of the latter in Pretoria. It is also the same venue where the Super Falcons defeated their Algerian counterparts 2-0 in a friendly match in October last year.
Olowookere will unleash forward Harmony Chidi (now on 16 goals in FIFA World Cup qualifying matches, including the 13 she scored on the way to the finals in the Dominican Republic last year), midfielder Shakirat Moshood (who scored four goals at the last FIFA World Cup finals in the Dominican Republic and also opened the floodgates against South Africa in Pretoria) and Aishat Animashaun (who was among the scorers against the Bantwana last month) on the Algerians in order to achieve his objective.
The return is scheduled for the Stade Mustapha Tchaker in Blida (outside Algeria) on Friday, 25th April.
This year’s FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup finals will take place in Morocco, 17th October – 5th November.
