Nigeria’s cadet women’s national team, Flamingos’ coach Bankole Olowookere has sent a thank you message to the Benin Republic for ‘preparing’ his side for Sunday’s final against Ghana.
Sports247 reports that Olowookere was very philosophical minutes after his team defeated Benin Republic 2-0 in what he described as a ‘very stiff game’ during Thursday’s second semi-final of the WAFU-B U17 Girls Cup in Ghana.
Although Flamingos’ main attraction, Janet Akekoromowei missed a first half sitter and had an 84th minute goal ruled out, Mary Mkpa’s 70th minute penalty and a sizzler by Peace Effiong in the 70th sealed Nigeria’s win.
The victory sent Nigeria into Sunday’s potentially explosive final against the hosts at Ghana Centre of Excellence in Prampram suburb of Accra, ahead of which Olowookere theorised that his players have been sensitized to expect a very tough game.
The Flamingos’ gaffer posited that it will be a great game, adding that he expects to see the best of Africa’s future women’s talent in action for either side.
Olowookere disclosed, “I am a coach by profession, and I am a pan-African. That’s why I want to see the development of football in Africa and, more especially, I love what we are doing with the young ones.
When we started this competition, my players did not play well; but we could see the future of women football from the beginning.”
The long-serving cadet team’s coach then gave details of his youth development approach and stated delight with the progress he is making with Nigeria’s lasses.
He continued, “We watch out for talents, and we develop them. The more they keep playing, the more they will improve. It also happened to us in Morocco, as we improved through the group stage.”
Olowookere then turned his focus on Sunday’s final and reckoned that it would be another tough match for his team, just as Thursday’s semi-final versus Benin Republic had been.
“Now we are thinking of the final on Sunday, and it’s going to be tough,” Olowookere reasoned. The semi-final against Benin lived up to what I expected. I actually expected a tough match, and it was so.
It has now prepared me for the final. Had it been that we had an easy ride to the final, we would not know what to expect on Sunday. But, once you face stiff opposition, you would have been tested with good football before getting to the final.
The same applies when going to the World Cup. If you have stiff opposition in the qualifiers, you will have a better team to represent Africa.”
He concluded by thanking Nigeria’s West Coast next-door neighbours for Thursday’s tough game and enthused that his players are ready to win Sunday’s final.
“This is better for me. They really tested my defence line. They tested my midfield, and my attackers too saw a lot of hard marking. The opponents almost made it impossible for the attackers to penetrate them, until we started finding ways through.
That became possible with the tactical options we made, and we were able to break the deadlock. So, it was good for me. I loved the kind of fight that the Beninoise team gave us. It really made me happy as a coach,” Olowookere stated.
He will now expect his players to step up a notch on Sunday and add to their current haul of 14 goals in three matches, as Ghana mauled Cote d’Ivoire 5-0 in Thursday’s first semi-final
