Flamingos held by Mexico in pre-World Cup friendly

Nigeria’s U-17 women’s team, the Flamingos, were forced to a 1-1 draw by Mexico in a pre-FIFA World Cup test game in Santiago on Tuesday.

Faridat Abdulkareem gave Nigeria the lead on 33 minutes before the Mexicans equalised in the 42nd minute of the well-fought friendly where both teams showed grit, but neither could find the winning goal.

The match held a day the Flamingos received a morale boost with a visit from the Association of Nigerian Citizens in the Dominican Republic, led by President Victor Nze and Vice President Dr. Elijah Ogunsola, in Santiago Domingo.

Coach Bankole Olowookere and his charges have been in Santiago since October 3, when they arrived in the country for an intensive camping trip for the World Cup, which kicks off in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday, October 16.

The team held its first training the following, and the players have been putting in a good shift daily since then.

Nigeria are pitted against Ecuador, New Zealand, and Dominican Republic in Group A and will kick off their campaign against New Zealand on October 16 at Estadio Cibao, take on Ecuador for their second game three days later at the same venue before rounding off their preliminary hostilities against Dominican Republic on October 23 at Estadio Olímpico Félix Sánchez, Santo Domingo.

The Flamingos have been to every edition of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup since its inception in 2008, missing only the 2018 edition. Before the 2022 edition, they’ve only gotten as far as the quarterfinals in the 2010, 2012, and 2014 editions, respectively. They broke this “jinx” in 2022 by defeating the USA in the quarterfinals via penalties after an entertaining and tightly-closed contest during regulation time, which ended 1-1.

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