Dayo Thomas
7 January 2008
Abuja — It was an easy start for the Nigeria's female Under-17 soccer team, Flamingos on Saturday at the Abuja National stadium when they overwhelmed their Guinean counterparts by 7-0.
The match was one of the six qualifiers played at the weekend across the continent for the maiden FIFA Under-17 World Cup for women slated for New Zealand between October 28 and November 16th, 2008.
Grace Okoronkwo and Oparanozie Ugoh scored a brace each, while Nku Cecilia, Ngibo Ebere Ngozi and Onuchukwu Catherine scored a goal each. Though the home team lost a penalty at the dying minutes of the first half, the half ended 4-0 in their favour.
The Felix Ibe-tutored girls had shown from the blast of the whistle that they were a potential candidate to the world tournament when they slotted in the first goal barely four minutes into the match.
The second half saw the Guineans coming out strongly seizing the midfield initiative through their captain Nomah Camarah but they found the defence of the home team difficult to penetrate.
The Coach Felix Ibe told THISDAYSport that the team would not relax despite the result of the first leg. "The girls have played well, but we are not going to relax until the team qualifies. We will go and work on some deficiencies we noticed in this first match and ensure that we have a balanced team in the second leg," he said.
The second leg will be played Conakry in a forthnight.
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