· As Cameroon crashes out
NIGERIA’s Flamingoes after a defeat in the opener of the ongoing fifth FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Jordan, would be all out today to seek victory over England in order to remain in contention for the quarter-final ticket.
The cliffhanger is billed for 2pm Nigeria time, at the Prince Mohammed International Stadium, Zarqa.
Group C leaders, Brazil will face Korea DPR at 5pm at the same venue where another win will guarantee the Samba girls a place in the knockout stage.
Interestingly, Nigeria is last on the table with no point to show as England and Korea had one point each following their 3-3 draw result last weekend.
Coach Bala Nikyu, while speaking after the opener expressed hope that the Flamingoes would get it right after stage fright cost them victory over Brazil.
“Against another team, I’m sure they would have relaxed more and played better,” Nikyu, ahead of today’s clash with England,” had told FIFA.com.
Expectedly, Nikyu must have also worked on the attack of the Flamingoes which was wasteful during the opener having wasted a number of scoring chances that could have earned them a point.
Captain Rasheedat Ajibade, who also featured at Costa Rica 2014 indeed remains one of the players to watch in the Flamingoes squad given her awesome performance against Brazil.
Meanwhile, Cameroon on Monday became the first African country to crash out of the tournament following its second defeat.
Cameroon had lost 2-3 to Canada in its opening game last weekend before another 1-2 loss to Venezuela on Monday to seal its exit from the biennial global competition.
The chance of Cameroon was dashed as the game between Canada and Germany ended in a 1-1 draw as both sides now have four points each.
A win by Cameroon if at all in the last game against Germany on Friday remains inconsequential as three points can’t see the African team through to the knockout stage even if Canada and Venezuela game end in a draw.