U-17 World Cup: Nigeria's Flamingoes Land In Q/Final

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Franciscar Ordega celebrates after scoring for Nigeria’s Flamingoes against Trinidad&Tobago.

Nigeria’s junior team, the Flamingoes early today defeated hosts of the 2010 FIFA U-17 Women World Cup, Trinidad&Tobago 2-1 to qualify for the quarter final of the tournament.

Francisca Ordega and Loveth Ayila scored for Nigeria in the second group match, which gave them maximum points.

The Nigerian girls, who now have six points having opened their campaign in the junior World Cup for women with victory over Korea, were fantastic with their fluid attacking play from the blast of the whistle.

Halimatu Ayinde and Sarah Nnodim were close to scoring when both players invaded the vital area of their opponents but missed target in the 5th minute.

It was the turn of Oluchi Ofoegbu to increase pressure on the hosts when her effort bounced off the crossbar from about 26 meters.

The ball however found Francisca Ordega in the 28th minute and without hesitation, she headed the ball beyond the reach of Trinidad&Tobago goalkeeper.

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The hosts, not willing to give up the match that cheap, took the game to their opponents from Nigeria and as hostilities continued, goalkeeper Amina Abu rushed out of her area to dispossess Jonelle Warrick of the ball.

But, the visibly confused Nigerian defenders, who wanted to rescue their keeper in the goalmouth melee ran into eachother inside the box and gave Liana Hinds a chance to score their only goal.

The Flamingoes ended the first half on that note, maintaining their aggressive play when actions resumed in the second half, but failed to convert the chances they created.

With about five minutes to full time, substitute Winifred Eyebhoria floated a the ball from the left flank and Ayila grabbed it to score the winning goal for Nigeria.

Trinidad&Tobago must now beat Korea in the last group match if they want to remain in the World Cup, while the Flamingoes need a draw against Chile in the last match to maintain their leadership of the group.

Chief Coach of the Nigerian team, Peter Dedevbo said: “I was very impressed by the Trinidad and Tobago team. They have a lot of talent and the determination and courage they showed throughout the match was commendable, but our players deserve to win because they played better”.

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