The coach of the Nigeria U17 Women teams, Flamingo, Bankole Olowookere has reacted to the failure of the team failure to fly past the USA in the quarter final of the 2024 FIFA U17 Women World cup USA played on Saturday, Sports247 reports.
The Flamingos failed to soar and hit the expected height as USA recorded 2-0 win over the team to eliminate Nigeria and their spots in the semi-finals.
The team fell short of expectations of Nigerians as the coach failed to also meet his personal target of not returning from the competition empty handed.
In a chat with the media after the match coach Bankole Olowookere says he was round of the girls’ performance whom he described as kids who are growing in the game and hopes for a better outing next time.
“I’m so proud of the girls, they’ve given it their best, come all this way and they are kids who are developing.”
” They’ve given their best but maybe their best was not good enough.”
” To my fellow Nigerians, we can go beyond this level and we will try and be better next time.” Bankole said .
How it all went down
The match which was played at CTC Stadium the Santiago De Los Caballero, Dominican Republic saw Nigeria failing to score for the first time in the competition after emerging from the group stage as the highest scoring side.
In a repeat of last edition quarter final pairings, the Nigerian side came as a slight favourite but the more determined Americans dominated play and secured a revenge of their ouster from the competition in India as Kennedy Fuller converted from the penalty spot and a Kimmi Ascanio strike in either half lifted USA to a first U-17 Women’s World Cup semi-final in 16 years.
The Flamingos have their pivotal moment coming in the minutes in the second half-time, with the American Goalkeeper gifted Taiwo Afolabi with a big chance but her shot was saved by Evan Osteen to deny the Nigerians a comeback.
What Next
The Americans will play their ever Semi final match against Korea DPR who defeated Poland by 1-0 in the second Semi final while the Flamingos will be boarding the next flight to Nigeria as the search for the first ever FIFA U17 Women World Cup trophy by an African team continues.
