Tobias Sylvester
Nigeria’s U-17 women’s national team, the Flamingos has defeated Germany to clinch the bronze medal at the ongoing FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Mumbai, India.
Nigeria Defeats Germany
After narrowly missing out on a place in the final match, the Flamingos on Sunday soared to a 3-2 penalty shootout victory over Germany to win the bronze medal.
Flamingos scored first and were up 3-0, before the Germans staged a dramatic comeback late on to tie the losers final 3-3.
The game went into penalties afterwards and the Flamingos were lucky this time around, after losing to Colombia through the shoot-out lottery in the semi-finals.
The Germans scored first in the fifth minute, but it was ruled out after a VAR review, following a foul on Flamingos goalkeeper Faith Omilana.
Opeyemi Ajakaye, top scorer in the African qualifiers, then ended her goal drought with a brilliant opener for the Flamingos in the 20th minute to put Nigeria ahead.
The hardworking Amina Bello doubled the lead with a brilliant header just three minutes into the second half.
Super sub Edidiong Etim, who came on for Chidera Okenwa in the 59th minute, made it three goals for Nigeria after just four minutes on the pitch.
Just when Nigeria thought they had the game wrapped up, the Germans pulled one back through Jella Viet’s effort in the 73rd minute and scored the second in the 88th minute through Platiner Paulina, before Loreen Bender equalised for the European champions in the 92nd minute to drag the match into the lottery of penalties.
Blessing Sunday, Etim and Player-of-The-Match Ajakaye, all scored from the spot for Flamingos but defender Tumininu Adeshina’s miss did not matter as Pauliner Bartz fluffed the crucial kick for Germany.
The hope for the Germans was later dashed when Omilana saved a point-blank penalty to seal Nigeria’s search for a bronze medal.
In the VIP stands watching the Flamingos make history were the NFF boss, Ibrahim Gusau, and his immediate predecessor, Amaju Pinnick, who predictably were delighted with the performance of the young girls.
This comes four days after Nigeria’s Flamingos crashed out of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India on Wednesday after a penalty shootout loss to Colombia.
