A LATE goal from France condemned Nigeria to defeat in a Group D clash at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. That loss was the Flamingos’ second in a row in the competition.
The game was unevenly matched but an 82nd minute strike from the French girls was enough to give them a 1-0 win against the West Africans in Morocco.
Maissa Fathallan scored the only goal for the French following Nigeria’s Elizabeth Boniface’s failure to parry the ball to safety. The ball squirmed through her hands, nailing Nigeria to another loss.
That defeat was Nigeria’s first back-to-back opening loss in the Women’s U-17 World Cup.
It came after Sunday’s pummeling by Canada, a game Coach Bankole Olowookere’s side lost 1-4. Nigeria started Wednesday’s game with a sense of urgency but their lack of cutting edge was punished by the French late on in the match.
Despite the result, Olowookere said his team played better than they did in their last game vs Canada and described the loss as painful.
“The game we played against France was much better than the one against Canada. If we had shown the same kind of fight in that first game, I don’t think we’d be in the situation we’re in now,” he told FIFA.
“It was really unfortunate to concede that late goal, it was painful, heartbreaking even. We’ll just keep working hard and see if we can get something out of it to stay in the tournament.”
The Flamingos could still qualify as one of the best losers if they beat Samoa by a wide margin in their next match on Saturday.
That is not all! They will expect results in other games to also go in their favour if that dream of reaching the quarter-finals would become a reality.
In another Group D clash, Canada thumped Samoa 6-0 to become the leaders of the lot.
The North Americans and France, both with six points, have now sealed their spots in the next phase of the competiton.
Nigeria are third in Group D with no points after two games, the same with Samoa. However, the Flamingos have conceeded fewer number of goals.