Algeria’s U-17 women’s coach, Abednour Mira has stated that his team remains determined and will keep fighting as they aim to overturn a 4-0 defeat to Nigeria’s Flamingos in the second leg of their U-17 Women’s World Cup qualifier.
In the first leg held at the Remo Stars Stadium in Ikenne, the Flamingos quickly took control with a three-goal advantage, courtesy of a brace from Queen Joseph and a goal from Zainab Oluwaseun, before substitute Aishat Animashaun sealed the 4-0 victory.
Despite the heavy defeat, Abednour Mira stayed positive during his post-match press conference, expressing gratitude to the NFF for their reception and promising to push for a comeback in the second leg.
“Thank you for the welcome, thank you for the reception at the level of the NFF, either in reception or in restaurant, we were well taken care of so thank you,” the gaffer said. “As for our performance, as we did with Botswana we lost 2-1 in the first leg and in the second leg, instead of another loss, we won 4-0 and we could have scored more than four,” the gaffer said,” he added.
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The coach stayed hopeful ahead of the second leg, emphasising that in football, anything can happen: “Today’s performance, especially in the second half leaves me hoping for the second leg in Algeria, it will be better than this one. If we talk about Remontada, the logic is there, in football anything is possible.”
Abednour Mira commended his team for their better showing in the second half but voiced his disappointment over the opportunities they failed to convert.
“We have our way of proceeding, we always have this motivation to exist on the field, not to give up, to give our best. In the second half we were better, we reached the offensive phase, we created opportunities either in corners or open play, we were dangerous and we could have even scored with more luck, we could have scored at least one goal.”
He concluded by stating that there’s no shame in losing to a team like Nigeria and offered his congratulations to the Flamingos on their victory: “It’s a shame for us but we don’t have to be ashamed in front of Nigeria who remain a favourite team always in the tournaments they play. Congratulations to Nigeria and thank you so much to the NFF for the reception.”
The second leg clash between Nigeria’s Flamingos and Algeria’s U-17 Women’s National team will take place at the Mustapha Tchaker Stadium in Blida on Friday, April 25.
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