Flamingos stun champions North Korea 3-1 to reach round 16

By Tosin Omojola

Nigeria’s U-17 women’s national team, the Flamingos, stunned defending champions North Korea with a 3-1 victory in their final group match on Friday to secure a place in the Round of 16 at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco.

Needing a positive result to advance to the knockout stage, the Flamingos produced an impressive performance against the free-scoring Asian side to seal a crucial victory.

The Hakeem Busari-tutored team had lost their opening match 0-1 to Poland before bouncing back with a 2-0 victory over Puerto Rico.

Oluwakemi Adegbuyi opened the scoring for Nigeria in the 15th minute before Oluebube Umejiaku doubled the lead in the 38th minute to give the Flamingos a comfortable 2-0 advantage at half-time.

Rodiat Yusuf extended Nigeria’s lead in the 56th minute, putting the result beyond the reach of the North Koreans.

North Korea, however, pulled a goal back from the penalty spot with two minutes left on the clock.

The Flamingos thought they had scored a fourth goal through Adegbuyi, but the effort was ruled out following a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review that identified an infringement against a North Korean player in the build-up. The match ended 3-1 in favour of Nigeria.

The victory saw the Flamingos finish second in Group B with six points from three matches, behind North Korea, who topped the group. Poland also advanced to the knockout stage after defeating Puerto Rico 6-2 to finish third.

Nigeria will face the runners-up from Group F in the Round of 16 on Thursday, with Mexico, Chile and Australia all in contention for the position.