Flamingos beat Ghana 4-2 in WAFU B thriller

By Tosin Omojola

Nigeria’s U-17 women’s national team, the Flamingos, defeated Ghana’s Black Maidens 4-2 on Friday in their second match at the WAFU-B U-17 Women’s Cup in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire.

Oluwakemi Adegbuyi, Harmony Chidi, Mary Dunstan and Kaosarat Akanji scored as the Flamingos secured a six-goal thriller against their West African rivals.

Adegbuyi opened the scoring in the 33rd minute with a well-taken strike to give Nigeria a deserved lead in the Jollof Derby.

Captain Chidi doubled the Flamingos’ advantage on the stroke of halftime with a brilliant finish.

Nigeria were reduced to 10 players in the 59th minute when defender Elizabeth Adesuyi was sent off for bringing down a Ghanaian forward who was through on goal. The Black Maidens pulled a goal back in the 62nd minute with a superb free-kick.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, the Flamingos restored their two-goal lead in the 70th minute when Dunstan raced through, rounded the goalkeeper and slotted the ball into the net.

Akanji then scored a stunning free-kick from near the halfway line in the 87th minute to put Nigeria 4-1 ahead.

Ghana scored again in the 90th minute, but the late goal was not enough to prevent the Black Maidens from suffering defeat.