THE Nigerian women’s cadet team and their Chilean counterpart will go head-to-head today in one of the final Group B matches of the ongoing 2022 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in India.
Either of these two teams will advance to the quarterfinal stage with a win at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
Nigeria, though, needs only a draw to finish as group runner-up.
The Flamingos did not start their World Cup campaign on a good note, as they lost 2-1 to Ger- many after taking a second-half lead.
But the Bankole Olowookere-tutored girls roared back to life on matchday two to demolish New Zealand 4-0 for their first points of the tournament.
Chile, on the other hand kicked off their India 2022 campaign with a 3-1 thrashing of New Zealand.
The South Americans, however, had no answer to a 6-0 slaughtering by Germany in their second match.
That scandalous Chile defeat allowed Nigeria to leapfrog the Red One into third place in Group B ahead of this meeting.
Nigeria and Chile met for the first and only time at this level at the 2010 World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Africans dispatched the South Americans with little trou- ble: 5-0, it ended inside the Larry Gomes Stadium in Malabar, Arima. Loveth Ayila (hat-trick), Francisca Ordega, and Ngozi Okobi Okeoghene were Nigeria’s goal-scorers on the day.