Flamingos’ coach Olowookere hails NSC, NFF over team’s participation at Gateway 2024

Head Coach of the national U-17 team, the Flamingos, Bankole Olowookere, has praised the National Sports Commission (NSC) and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for the opportunity given to the team to participate in the 22nd National Sports Festival ongoing in Ogun State.

The Nigerian side represented the Invited Junior Athletes (IJA), an initiative of the NSC.

The FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup-bound Flamingos lost in the final of the women’s football event to Team Delta after a penalty shootout that went into sudden death at the MKO Abiola Sports Complex on Tuesday evening.

“First and foremost, kudos to the NSC that invited us to participate, and also to the NFF. The festival provided an opportunity for us to test some of the new players we scouted through local tournaments and the league. We were able to integrate some of them into the squad.

“Our third-choice goalkeeper was in goal throughout and didn’t concede a single goal in regulation time during the festival. I commend the defenders as well,” he said.

Olowookere attributed the loss in the penalty shootout to inexperience on the part of the goalkeeper, who parried the ball into the net instead of away from it.

“We have also seen that we need to train more in the area of penalty kicks as we prepare for the World Cup.

“Sincerely, the Team IJA concept is commendable. We were also able to scout new players from other states that participated in the women’s football event,” he added.