Sports
Flamingoes Beat Guinea, Romp Into Final Round
Nigeria’s national under-17 female football team, the Flamingoes, were dominant as they trounced their counterparts from Guinea 5-1 at the Agege Stadium in Lagos at the weekend.
Victory helped them to reach the final round of the African qualifying series for this year’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup, after an 11-2 aggregate win.
No surprises were expected from the match, following Flamingos’ 6-1 demolition of the Guineans on their home ground in Conakry a week ago.
It looked like a similar scoreline was in the offing as the home girls easily created scoring chance after chance.
But they fluffed so many of them, with Oluwayemisi Samuel and Taiwo Lawal the biggest culprits.
Samuel’s feeble shot could not trouble goalkeeper Haidara Cherif in the 16th minute, then Lawal with only the goalkeeper to beat missed chances in the 17th and 20th minutes.
Binta Conte fired over Nelly Ekeh’s goal at the other end.
But in the 28th minute, Rofiat Imuran, who netted a hat-trick in the 6-1 defeat of the Guineans in Conakry, outpaced the visitors’ defence.
She coolly picked her spot and slotted in the first goal of the day.
On the half hour, Samuel lifted the ball too high as the Flamingos rushed forward again.
But Taiwo Lawal scored in the 34th and 42nd minutes to make it a comfortable 3-0 lead for Nigeria at half-time.
In the second half, Nigeria again missed a hatful of chances, instead allowing Guinea to pull one goal back from the penalty kick spot in the 84th minute.
The goal came through Fatoumata Diallo after Oluwabunmi Oladeji handled in the penalty box.
However, there was still time for two more goals for the Flamingos, as substitute Alvine Dah-Zossu beat the visitors’ offside trap in the 86th minute.
She then beat Haidara Cherif to slot into an empty net.
Chinyere Kalu, who also scored in Conakry, wrapped up a good day’s job for the Nigerians with the goal of the day.
She heaved the ball past Cherif on the stroke of time from a 22-yard free kick.
Having qualified 11-2 on aggregate, the Flamingos will now clash with their Ghanaian counterparts in the final round of the series.
Tidesports source reports that Ghana also whipped Liberia 10-0 on aggregate.
The first leg match of the Nigeria/Ghana pairing will hold in Accra in the first week of May.
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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