Precious Josiah
Flamingos of Nigeria reached the Round of 16 at FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup finals taking place in Morocco after a sterling performance in which they got a 4-0 win over Samoa in Rabat.
Queen Joseph scored a brace, bringing her tournament tally to three goals. Captain Shakirat Moshood converted a penalty, and defender Azeezat Oduntan netted a banging shot from the wing.
The Flamingo’s knew what was at stake, so they strived for a high-margin win, to be able to reach the knockout stage.The team bounced back from tough opening defeats against Canada and France with a strong performance. They took the lead in just 13 minutes, thanks to a brilliant pass from Moshood that Joseph capitalized on, lifting the ball past goalkeeper Grace into the far net.
Grace Ae was in the right place three minutes later to push away a decent shot by Chisom Nwachukwu, but she was sent the wrong way by Moshood from six yards in the 27th minute after defender Holly Leapai handled the ball in the box from a corner.
The Flamingos kept pushing for more goals, and in the 36th minute, Nguemo Terlumun’s clever movement caused problems for the Samoan defense. She beat the rearguard and delivered a cross for Joseph, who scored Nigeria’s third goal with a composed finish.
The 44th minute of the game witnessed an exchange of intelligent passes between Mariam Yahaya and Joseph leaving the latter one on one with the goalkeeper, unfortunately her shot was blocked from entering the net
The Flamingos sealed their win in the 67th minute when Oduntan scored from a well-placed cross, despite Sylvia Echefu’s two brilliant saves earlier in the game. This 4-0 victory secured their spot in the Round of 16, building on their bronze medal finish at the 2022 India-hosted finals.