- USA send Nigeria packing from Dominican Republic 2024 tournament
The FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup journey of Nigeria’s under-17 girls national football team, the Flamingoes is over after losing to the United States of America (USA) in their quarterfinal rematch on Saturday night.
The team missed qualification for the semi-finals after suffering a 0-2 loss to their USA counterparts in the last eight pairing in an encounter dubbed as a rematch of their quarterfinals debacle at the 2022 edition in India.
The Bankole Olowookere-led Flamingoes came all out for the kill but the Americans defended stoutly and earned a penalty in the 40th minute with Kennedy Fuller stepping up to convert and give them the lead which they maintained until the halftime break.
The Flamingos started the second half searching for an equalizer as the USA continued to defend their advantage.
The second goal for the USA came in the 74th minute as Fuller located Kimmi Acsanio to slot home. Unfortunately, the several changes made by the Flamingoes failed to yield positive results as the Nigerian girls were unable to produce a comeback.
With the defeat, the Flamingoes, who won all three group games, were eliminated from the competition while the USA progressed to the semi-finals to face the winner of the game between North Korea and Poland.
