U-17 Women World Cup: Nigeria’s flamingoes beat USA on penalties to reach semi-finals
Nigerian Under-17 Women’s National Team, the Flamingos on Friday defeated their USA counterparts on penalties to advance to
semi-finals of the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India.
The Coach Olowookere side defeated American team 4-3 on penalties after playing out 1-1 in the regulation time even as the start of the game was delayed for more than an hour due to rain and lightning.
Head coach Bankole Olowookere named the same starting eleven that defeated Chile 2-1 in their last group game on Monday in Bhubaneswar.
Nigeria took the lead inside Mumbai’s D Y Patil Sports Stadium in the 26th minute from a penalty kick after Amina Bello was adjudged to have been fouled inside the USA’s box following a VAR review with Edafe Omamuzo stepping to convert the penalty kick to hand Nigeria the lead.
The Americans equalized in the 40th minute through a strike from Amalia Villarreal, although the ball took a heavy deflection off Nigeria’s Comfort Folorunsho before finding its way to the back of the net ending the first half 1-1.
It was the first time that the Nigerian team will reach the last four stage of the tournament having failed to reach the semi-finals in six previous editions. The country has now ended a 14-year wait for a last-four berth on their fourth quarter-final appearance.
They will play the winner of Colombia vs Tanzania in the semi-finals on Wednesday, 26 October.