Nigeria’s U17 girls, Flamingos must overcome their Ethiopian counterparts to earn a ticket to this year’s FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup finals taking place in India in October.
The Coach Bankole Olowookere-tutored side defeated their hosts, Egypt’s U17 girls 2-0 in Cairo on Saturday night, with top scorer Opeyemi Ajakaiye opening the account in the 5th minute before Aminat Omowunmi Bello added a second nine minutes later at the Petrosports Stadium, for a 6-0 aggregate win for Nigeria.
Ethiopia defeated South Africa’s U17 girls 3-0 away in Johannesburg in the first leg of their third round clash, only to lose 0-1 to the South Africans in Addis Ababa on Saturday. The Ethiopians had edged Uganda on the away goal rule in the second round, with the aggregate scoreline stalemated at 3-3.
Not only are the Flamingos, who have played in every edition of the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup bar one, undefeated in this qualifying series, but they are also yet to concede a goal. They hammered the Democratic Republic of Congo 3-0 in Kinshasa and 5-0 in Benin City, for 8-0 aggregate scoreline, before sending the Egyptians packing 6-0.
The nifty Ajakaiye is the top scorer with five goals, having scored in each of Nigeria’s four matches (with a brace against the Congolese in Benin City).
The first leg of the Nigeria/Ethiopia final round fixture will hold on 21st May, with the second leg taking place two weeks later.
