AUCKLAND-Nigeria’s Flamingoes have been driven to permutations and combination’s after a truly undeserved 1-0 loss to England in the on-going FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in New Zealand.
The Nigerian girls totally dominated England in one of the most one-sided games ever to be seen in a FIFA competition, leading on every statistic but the one that truly mattered: goals.
With Korea topping Brazil 2-1 in the other game, the door is open to all three remaining teams to join the English in the next round, and NFF Media Officer Ademola Olajire is working out the arithmetic.
“The Republic of Korea’s 2-1 victory over Brazil in the second match means the Flamingoes must take all their chances in the match against Brazil, as Korea and England can still qualify if the Koreans beat England 2-0 and Nigeria defeat Brazil by the same margin.
“England are on six points, with Korea and Nigeria on three, but 2-0 results will put England, Korea and Nigeria on six points, with the Koreans on better goals and England and Nigeria on the same number of goals scored and conceded (4-2). Both head–to–head, England has beaten Nigeria and will get the nod in case of a tie,” was how the NFF spokesman worked it.
Felix Ibe and his girls though, will have nobody but themselves to blame for their situation.
England were out shot 20 to 2, won no corner kicks to Nigeria’s 11 and possession wise, only managed to keep the ball 38% of the time to Nigeria’s 62%.
Poor technique in front of goal, plus some fine goalkeeping by Lauren Davey kept England in a game they had no right to be in. The Nigeria bench also failed to find a creative means of unlocking the organised defence of the English and were made to pay a heavy price with just over 10 minutes left.
A long throw in was flicked into the path of Jessica Holbrook, who turned and fired off a half volley past Mabel Egwuenu. It was all that was needed, and England proceeded to close shop.
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