Latest News
FIFA U17 WWC: Flamingos coach targets historic win against USA
By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde
Nigeria U-17 women’s coach, Bankole Olowookere says the team is working hard to ensure victory over the United States of America in Mumbai on Friday.
Nigeria and the United States will square up for the first time, at the DY Patil Stadium in the quarter-final game of the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
“We are doing everything humanly possible to get the desired result against USA as you can see during our training sessions,” said Coach Olowookere in a monitored interview by nigeriafootball.ng on NFFTV.
*We are representing millions of Nigerians wherever they are. The focus is to win the game which will take us to the final stage of the competition.”
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau spoke via telephone with the Flamingos ahead of their quarterfinal match.
“Before our training sessions, the new President of the NFF called and spoke to the team ahead of the game with USA,” the coach, confirmed.
Coach Olowookere continued. “He has been motivating us and boosting our morale financially. This is very important for the team and he has also promised to boost our morale financially with a win over USA. The support is responsible for our victory against Chile.”
The Naija Ratels FC coach in the Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) Premiership urged Nigerians to continue this support and prayers for the team.
He said: “I will thank God for everything and also thank Nigerians for their support. As Oliver Twist, we will continue to ask for more support and prayers.
“The quarter-final is not our destiny. We need to get to the semi-final and as we are praying over here, we also urge Nigerians to continue praying for us.”
Having failed to reach the semi-finals in six previous editions, the Nigerians set out to achieve the impossible, ending the country’s 14-year wait for a last-four berth on their fourth quarterfinal appearance.
The Americans will hope to reach the semis for the first time since 2008 when they finished as runners-up at the inaugural edition in New Zealand.
