Head Coach of the Nigeria Under 17 Women’s National Football Team, Bankole Olowookere is confident his side can defeat the United States and progress to the semi final of the competition.

Nigeria has never passed the quarter finals stage of this competition and this Flamingos will be facing one of the biggest test by going up against the USA in setting this new record.

Flamingos lost their first group stage match to Germany 2-1 but bounced back in style by defeating New Zealand and Chile 4-0 and 3-1 respectively.

“As a coach, I have achieved getting to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, but as Nigeria, we have not reached the final journey,” Olowookere stated on NFF TV.

“The best we have ever gotten at the U-17 Women’s World Cup is the quarter-final stage; I’m here to create a lot of upsets and set new records.

“We need to work hard to get to the semi-final and set a new record for the U-17 team.”

He added, “We respect the USA team; they are a superpower in female football. I am watching them closely; they play well and score many goals. I have to be careful about playing them.

“I am going for the win, but I have to look at our loopholes and try to correct some of the things we are not doing right. By the time we are done with all these, we’ll have what it takes to defeat the USA.”

Having already equaled their best outing in the tournament, Flamingos will take on USA on Friday by 7am.

Advertisement