Nigeria’s U17 girls, Flamingos were imperious as they trounced their counterparts from Guinea 5-1 at the Agege Stadium, Lagos, yesterday, to reach the final round of the African qualifying series for this year’s FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup and will meet Ghana next.
No surprises were expected following Flamingos’ 6-1 demolition of their Guineans on their home ground in Conakry a week ago, and it looked like a similar scoreline was in the offing as the home girls easily created chance after chance at the Soccer Temple. But they fluffed so many of them, with Oluwayemisi Samuel and Taiwo Lawal the biggest culprits.
Samuel’s feeble shot could not trouble goalkeeper Haidara Cherif in the 16th minute, then Lawal with only the goalie to beat missed chances in the 17th and 20th minutes.
Binta Conte fired over Nelly Ekeh’s goal at the other end, but in the 28th minute, Rofiat Imuran, who netted a hat-trick in the 6-1 defeat of the Guineans in Conakry, outpaced the visitors’ defence, cooly picked her spot and slotted in the first goal of the day.