Nigeria’s U-17 Women’s Football team, the Flamingos, will be looking to make history when they take on Colombia for a place in the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup final on Wednesday, by 12 noon (Nigerian Time) at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in India.
The Flamingos became the first African team to reach the semi finals of the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, after beating the United States on 4-3 penalties, after a 1-1 scoreline in regulation time on Friday. Colombia, who also reached the semi-final for the first time in its history, beat Tanzania 3-0 to progress.
History-making Coach Bankole Olowookere will again count on goalkeeper Faith Omilana, defenders Miracle Usani, Tumininu Adeshina, Comfort Folorunsho and Blessing Emmanuel, midfielders Taiwo Afolabi, Alvine Dah-Zossu and Blessing Sunday, and forwards Opeyemi Ajakaye, Edidiong Etim and Aminat Omowunmi Bello.
🗣️Flamingos head coach Bankole Olowookere previews Wednesday’s semifinal game against Colombia #SoarFlamingos #KickoffTheDream #India2022 #TeamNigeria pic.twitter.com/r7z2Yv7KXE
— NGSuper_Falcons (@NGSuper_Falcons) October 25, 2022
The Flamingos have scored a total of eight goals in open play in the competition, conceding four. They have put a total of 36 shots on target, making them the side that has created the most opportunities of the four teams left in the competition.
Nigeria’s top scorer in the competition is Miracle Usani with three goals.
🧾Here’s how our Flamingos will line up against Colombia 🇨🇴 today
We are good to go! #SoarFlamingos|| #WeCountOnYou| #Team9jaStrong| #KickOffTheDream| #NGACOL pic.twitter.com/8lzUDKilMP
— NGSuper_Falcons (@NGSuper_Falcons) October 26, 2022
Colombia U-17 Women’s team
While Nigeria have qualified for the quarter-final stage three times, this is Colombia’s first-ever foray beyond the group stage.
On the road to the semis, both countries won three and lost one of their matches. Colombia have so far scored seven goals and conceded two.
Colombia’s Juana Ortegon is relishing playing for her country and ready for tomorrow’s semi-final against the Flamingos of Nigeria and she had a few words to share before the encounter.
“When you’re playing matches, you’re having fun because you know that you’re making your people happy,” Ortegon said.
Colombia’s Linda Caicedo is the joint top scorer at India 2022 with four goals, level with Momoko Tanikawa of Japan.
Head To Head
This is the first time Nigeria and Colombia have ever gone so far at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. The African nation had never managed to advance beyond the quarter-finals, while the South Americans had always previously fallen at the Group Stage.
The two nations have met twice at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup before, with Nigeria winning on both occasion. Both victories came in the Group Stage: 3-0 in 2012, and 2-1 in 2014.
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