Flamingos off to Johannesburg

The U-17 women national team, Flamingos will be departing the shores of the country Wednesday morning to Johannesburg for the return leg of the final qualifying round of this year’s FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup against their South African counterparts.

The Flamingos have recorded outstanding results during the qualifiers most notably, the 9-0 aggregate win over the Baby Gladiators of Namibia, followed by the 6-0 humbling of the Bantwana of South Africa in the first leg of the final qualifying round in Abuja penultimate weekend.

 Coach Bala Nikyu has said that the six –goal advantage going into the second leg will not make his players rest on their oars, as the girls are determined to get a good result in South Africa.

 "We are not going to allow the Bantwana to cancel any of the goals we scored in Nigeria. Rather, we are going to score more goals and hope to replicate the feat we achieved in Namibia by beating them in South Africa.The girls are confident of cementing their World Cup qualification and it can only be done if we do not underrate the South Africans, and go all out on the attack."

 Nigeria has participated at all previous editions of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup final competitions since its inception in 2008 in New Zealand, and reached the quarter -finals in the last three editions. The 5th FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup finals will be held in Jordan from September 30 – October 21 this year.