Nigeria’s U17 girls, Flamingos, on Saturday defeated their hosts, South Africa’s Bantwana 3-1 to put a firm leg in the final round of the qualification series for this year’s FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup finals.
Four-goal scorer at the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in the Dominican Republic last year, Shakirat Moshood finished with aplomb in the 20th minute to put the 2022 FIFA World Cup bronze medallists ahead at the Lucas ‘Masterpieces’ Moripe in Pretoria, before Harmony Chidi, who scored 13 goals in the qualifying series for last year’s finals, made no mistake from six yards as Nigeria was awarded a penalty.
Bantwana kept the Flamingos in their sights when they also converted a penalty two minutes after the break, courtesy Malebana, but the prolific Harmony Chidi took Nigeria out of South Africa’s sights with a third goal in the 68th minute.
Both teams will clash again, in the return leg, at the Remo Stars’ Stadium in Ikenne-Remo on Saturday next week, with the winner advancing to the final round of the series, where all four winners will qualify to join hosts Morocco as Africa’s flag-bearers at this year’s FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, 17th October – 5th November.
OTHER FIXTURES
Uganda/Kenya
Botswana/Algeria
Sierra Leone/Guinea
Cameroon/Ethiopia
Tanzania/Zambia
Benin Republic/DR Congo
Cote d’Ivoire/Burundi
