U-17 World Cup: Olowookere says Nigeria have not lost hope despite France defeat

Despite suffering back-to-back defeats in the on-going FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, Nigeria coach Bankole Olowookere has refused to throw in the towel insisting they will continue to work hard and see if they will stay in the tournament being held in Morocco.

After a disappointing 4-1 defeat to Canada in their opening match, the young Nigerian side came up against France in their matchday two on Wednesday. However, a late strike from Maissa Fathallah delivered France victory against the Flamingoes and a round-of-16 spot.

Full-TIME: Nigeria Flamingos 0 vs 1 France U17
⚽️ FATHALLAH Maissa 🇫🇷 81’

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The outcome left Nigeria with zero points from their opening two matches in Group D. Despite the defeat, Olowookere remained positive especially with the performance of the players, saying their display was way up than the first match against France.

‘We’ll just keep working hard’

Speaking after the game, Olowookere said as quoted by FIFA.com: “The game we played against France was much better than the one against Canada. If we had shown the same kind of fight in that first game, I don’t think we’d be in the situation we’re in now.

“It was really unfortunate to concede that late goal, it was painful, heartbreaking even. We’ll just keep working hard and see if we can get something out of it to stay in the tournament.”

France coach Mickael Ferreira reserved praise for Nigeria terming them a committed side by saying: “We knew it was going to be a tough match. This Nigerian team is very committed, very united, and very brave.

“We knew we had to rise to that challenge, to that individual and collective battle. And the girls responded really well. I’m very happy with what they produced in that regard.”

Nigeria will wind up their preliminary group matches against Samoa on Saturday.