Nigeria’s women U-17 national team the Flamingos will face free-scoring United States of America in the quarter-final of the ongoing FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India on Friday at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai.
The Flamingos qualified for the quarter-finals thanks to a 2-1 win over Chile in their third Group B encounter at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar to finish second with six points behind Germany who claimed all maximum points in the group.
The Nigerians will face a stern test from the unbeaten Americans who finished top of Group A ahead of Brazil with seven points. The Americans scored a total of 13 goals and conceded just once in the group stage. They beat hosts India 8-0 in their opening match, played a 1-1 draw against Brazil while they trashed Morocco 4-0 in their final group game.
A win for the Flamingos will see them qualify for the semi-finals of the competition for the first time after three trials while the Americans will be hoping to reach the same stage only for the second time since the inaugural edition of the competition in 2008 where they finished as runners-up.
Should the Flamingos beat the Americans, they will become the second African nation to reach the semi-finals after Ghana.
To overcome the Americans, the Flamingoes who have been known to be wasteful in front of goal will have to be at their best and take their chances while the defenders will need to ensure that striker Charlotte Kohler is kept quiet during the entire duration of the game. Kohler is currently the competition’s joint top scorer alongside Germany’s Loreen Bender on three goals.
