Nigeria’s Flamingos have scaled through to the quarterfinals of the ongoing FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup after a 2-1 win over Chile in their last group B fixture on Monday.
Flamingos lost their first game of the group to Germany but thrashed New Zealand 4-0 in the second game and only needed a draw to reach the knockout stage of the tournament.
Blessing Emmanuel scored the only goal in the first half of the game as Nigeria went into the break with a 1-0 lead at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, India.
Taiwo Afolabi came close to doubling Nigeria’s lead barely two minutes before the half time, but her effort was not enough to threaten the Chilean goalkeeper Catalina Alvarado.
Chile started the second half of the match better and subsequently resulted in their first attempt on goal but the effort slightly went over the goalpost.
Afterwards, Nigeria regained possession of the game and created multiple chances but were not clinical enough to put the ball in the back of the net.
Busola Mosaku scored in the 82nd minute to double Nigeria’s lead but Tali Rovner pulled one back from a spotkick for Chile nine minutes later.
The match ended 2-1 after full time as Flamingos secured an impressive victory to finish second in the group B behind Germany, who defeated New Zealand 3-1.
Flamingos will lock horns with the yet-to-be known winners of Group A in the quarterfinals on October 21 at the DY Patil Stadium.
