Nigeria’s U17 girls, Flamingos marked the International Women’s Day with a 3-1 victory over South Africa 3-1 at the Lucas Moripe Stadium to close in on qualification for the 2025 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup finals in Morocco.
Shakirat Moshood finished with aplomb in the 20th minute to put the 2022 FIFA World Cup bronze medallists ahead at the Lucas ‘Masterpieces’ Moripe in Pretoria.
Harmony Chidi, who scored 13 goals in the qualifying series for last year’s finals, made no mistake from six yards after Nigeria were awarded a penalty.
The Bantwana kept the Flamingos in their sights when they also converted a penalty two minutes after the break, courtesy Malebana, but the prolific Harmony Chidi took Nigeria out of South Africa’s sights with a third goal in the 68th minute.
Both teams will clash again, in the return leg, at the Remo Stars’ Stadium in Ikenne-Remo on Saturday next week.
The winner will advance to the final round of the series, where all four winners will qualify to join hosts Morocco as Africa’s flag-bearers at this year’s FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, 17th October – 5th November.
Nigeria suffered a 2-0 defeat to USA in the quarter-finals of the 2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
