Nigeria U 17 Women National Team, the Flamingos will begin the quest for a place in the Semi Final at the FIFA U17 Women World Cup against USA at the
CFC Stadium, Santiago de los Caballeros by 8:30 pm Nigerian time .
The trickish tie is the first of the four quarter finals ties lined up for this weekend for a place in next week’s Semi finals at the World Cup in Dominican Republic.
Nigeria has a perfect group of matches winning all their matches, topped group A to face the USA in a repeat of the last edition tie.
It’s a trickish tie for the Flamingos, as the Americans will be seeking a revenge of their painful penalty loss the last time.
Nigeria will be seeking a repeat of reaching another Semi Final appearance, the highest level ever attained by the Nigerian despite attending all editions of the FIFA U17 Women World Cup , a motivation for the team to come all out gun blazing against the Yankees.
How they got here:
Nigeria With three wins from three, nine goals scored and only one conceded, Nigeria entered the quarter-finals with an impressive tournament record. Opening their account with a 4-1 win over New Zealand, they netted another four in an even more resounding 4-0 victory against Ecuador. A late goal from Shakirat Moshood maintained their 100% record with a 1-0 win over the Dominican Republic, putting the striker at the summit of the Top Scorers list going into the next round.
How they got here:
USA Defeated 3-1 in their tournament opener by Spain, USA have been going up through the gears at Dominican Republic 2024 and enter the knockouts in fine form. Notching three points on the board with a hard-fought 2-0 win against Colombia, they fired five past Korea Republic to secure their place in the knockouts. Mel Barcenas scored twice in the clincher – her first going into the history books as the third fastest goal in U-17 Women’s World Cup history.
Key stats;
These sides have met only once before in this competition: Nigeria progressed via a penalty shootout (4-3) following a 1-1 draw in the India 2022 quarter-final stage.
USA have reached the quarter-finals for the third time (2008, 2022, 2024), while Nigeria has been here five times (2010, 2012, 2014, 2022, 2024) – more than any other African team.
Nigeria won all three matches of an U-17 Women’s World Cup group stage for the third time (2010, 2014, 2024).
Victory in this game for USA would be the first time they have won three consecutive matches in the competition.
Nigeria finished third at India 2022 – their highest finish – while USA have not reached the semi-finals since 2008, when they went on to lose in the final
