Nigeria U17 girls, Flamingos, defeated their hosts – South Africa’s Bantwana 3-1 – to take a giant step towards reaching the final round of the qualification series for this year’s FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup finals, www.aclsports.com reports.
It was a game that the Flamingos dominated as last year’s World Cup star – Shakirat Moshood – opened the scoring in the 20th minute at the Lucas ‘Masterpieces’ Moripe Stadium in Pretoria.
Harmony Chidi, who scored 13 goals in the qualifying series for last year’s finals, made no mistake from the spot to double Nigeria’s advantage.
However, the hosts fought back to stay within touching distance when they also converted a penalty two minutes after the break, courtesy Katleho Malebana.
Just eight minutes after the hour mark, the prolific Harmony Chidi restored Nigeria’s two-goal cushion with her second goal of the afternoon.
Following the win in Pretoria, both teams will clash again, in the return leg, at the Remo Stars’ Stadium in Ikenne-Remo on Saturday next week.
The winner at the end of the second leg 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.
