Nigeria’s U-17 women’s national team, the Flamingos defeated Germany to claim the bronze medal at the U-17 Women’s World Cup in India today.
The win makes Nigeria the second African country to have clinched bronze after Ghana won it in 2012.
Behold, the first ever medal winning 🇳🇬Nigeria U17 women's team👏
Congratulations, our Flamingos! 🤗🤝💗#U17WWC #SoarFlamingos pic.twitter.com/97PWFO8XIl
— NGSuper_Falcons (@NGSuper_Falcons) October 30, 2022
The Flamingos beat their opponent 3-2 on penalties, after a 3-3 draw in regular time.
Flamingos were up 3-0, with the first goal scored by Opeyemi Ajakaye in the 20th minute.
Aminat Bello doubled the lead three minutes into the second half of the clash.
Etim Edidiong found the back of the net in the 63rd minute to it three goals to nil.
However, the Germans staged a dramatic comeback late on to bring the match to 3-3 draw, with the three goals scored in the last seventeen minutes of the match.
Jella Viet’s first scored for the Germans in the 73rd minute and Platiner Paulina scored the second in the 88th minute, before Loreen Bender equalised for the European champions in the 92nd minute to drag the match into the lottery of penalties.
The game went into penalties afterwards and the Flamingos were lucky this time around, after losing to Colombia through the shoot-out lottery in the semi-finals. This is their third penalty in the tournament. They earlier defeated the US on penalties to reach the semi finlas.
Ajakaye won the Player of the Match prize, her third in the competition.
Blessing Sunday, Etim and Player-of-The-Match Ajakaye, all scored from the spot for Flamingos but defender Tumininu Adeshina’s miss did not matter as Pauliner Bartz fluffed the crucial kick for Germany.
To celebrate the win, Super Eagles captain Ahmed Musa, promised the team a N3 million reward.
“Three million waiting for Flamingos in Abuja,” he wrote in reply to a tweet on the Super Falcons’ handle celebrating the Flamingos’ win. “Congratulations.”
3Million waiting for Flamingos in Abuja. Congratulations 🎉🇳🇬👏
— Ahmed Musa (MON) (OON) (@Ahmedmusa718) October 30, 2022
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
