U-17 Women’s World Cup: Olowookere reveals Nigeria motivation in Samoa win

Nigeria women’s U17 coach Bankole Olowookere has explained what inspired her girls to secure a place in the knockout stages of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup featuring 24 teams in Morocco on Saturday.

Having lost their two opening matches against Canada and France, Nigeria went into their final group fixture against Samoa with slim hopes of making it to the round of 16. However, against all odds, Nigeria ensured they would qualify for the next stage as one of the best third-placed teams as they brushed aside Samoa.

Queen Joseph struck twice before the interval, set up by Shakirat Moshood and then Nguemo Terlumun, with Moshood coolly converting a penalty in between. The Flamingos captain had the opportunity to add a fourth from the spot early in the second half, but her identically-placed effort was easily saved by Grace Ae.

However, the shot-stopper was unable to keep out Azeezat Oduntan’s curling effort as Samoa bowed out.

Nigeria still wanted to take part in tournament

According to Olowookere, Nigeria’s desire to stay and compete in the competition, pushed them to succeed against Samoa.

“Our start was disappointing and we tried to make up for that. The girls are happy now, they still want to take part in the tournament, and they don’t want to go home,” Olowookere told FIFA.com.

“So they just had to bring a good game to make sure that we could remain one of the contenders of this tournament. It’s good that we have strong opposition, to prepare us for the next game. We have to work on those areas where they were able to penetrate our team.”

Nigeria had lost the opener 2-1 against Canada before going down 1-0 against France in matchday two. They will now face Italy in the Round of 16 fixture at Olympic Stadium Annex Sports Complex Prince Moulay Abdellah on Tuesday.