For the first time in their history of participating in the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, Nigeria’s Flamingos have qualified for the semi-final stage of the biennial competition.
Qualification for the semi-final stage was by no means easy as the Flamingos needed the lottery of penalty kicks to get past the USA U-17 Women’s team.
Omamuzo Edafe opened scoring for Flamingos in the first half from the penalty spot but Amalia Villarreal’s deflected effort put the Americans level five minutes before the break.
With the game going into straight penalties, the Flamingos prevailed with a 4-3 scoreline.
After over an hour delay due to a windy atmosphere, both Nigeria and USA kicked off the first Quarter-final game of the day at the DY Patil Stadium with the Flamingos keen to break a 14-year jinx
The first 10 minutes between both teams witnessed a compact Nigerian side putting up a good show against the attack-minded United States Ladies.
In the 15th minute, Taiwo Afolabi was bullied by Ella Sanchez who then sent a forward pass to Riley Jackson who was ahead of the Nigerian defence but the attempt from the forward went slightly off target. A few seconds later, Opeyemi Ajakaye was marked out by the USA defender for Nigeria’s first corner.
Onyeka Gamero driving from the right side assisted Lauren Martinho who fired Omilana before the assistant referee ruled the attempt offside in the 20th minute.
Three minutes later, Amina Bello made the impact for Nigeria after she was infringed by Ella Emri at the right side of the box for a possible penalty. After being subjected to a VAR check for two minutes, the referee awarded a penalty which was scored by Omamuzo Edafe.
Quickly after conceding what was their second goal of the tournament, USA tried to find an instant equaliser but it was not to be
Lauren Martinho again got a chance for an equaliser from a rebounce to Riley Jackson’s corner but was saved by attentive Omilana in the 34th minute.
However, the compactness of the Flamingos failed another offensive test from the Americans in the 40th minute when a shot from Amala Villarreal was deflected into the net by Comfort Folunsho in the 40th minute.
The Americans came back after the break looking more dangerous as they were desperate for their first semi-final appearance since 2008.
Though they had the upper hand with the best chances in the second half, they were unable to break the resolute Nigerian Ladies.
The Flamingos did have one or two moments of theirs but they couldn’t add to their solitary first-half goal.
Seven minutes into the stoppage time, Nigeria was delivered from what could have been a last-minute chance for the USA after Gamero’s shot went past Omilana towards the net but was cleared by Usani Miracle to the corner.
In the 94th minute, Olowookere made a double substitution with the duo of Goalkeeper Linda Jiwuaku and Offiong Immaculate being injected for Faith Omilana and Amina Bello before Nigeria progressed to the penalty shootout.
In the penalty shootout, both Emeri Adames and Etim Eddiong scored the first set playing in the same direction.
However, Ella Emri suffered another unfortunate fate after her penalty went off target while Edet Offiong put the Flamingos in front after scoring the second shootout.
Both Suarez Taylor and Usani scored their set while Riley Jackson and Comfort Folorunsho lost their respective penalties.
The moment Nigerians were expecting in 14 years came forth after Edafe scored her penalty to send Nigeria to its first-ever semifinal and a first-time victory over the USA.
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