Nigeria’s national under-17 girls football team, the Flamingos, must now overcome their Ethiopian counterparts to earn a ticket to this year’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup finals.
taking place in India in October.
This came to light after they defeated hosts Egypt 2-0 in Cairo on Saturday to advance on a 6-0 aggregate into the final round of the African qualifiers.
The team’s top goalscorer, Opeyemi Ajakaiye, had opened scores in the fifth minute of the match, before Aminat Bello added a second nine minutes later at the Petrosports Stadium.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Flamingos had about two weeks earlier in Abuja had beaten the Egyptian side 4-0.
They will now meet the Ethiopians who qualified on a 3-1 aggregate, after losing 1-0 in the second leg clash in Addis Ababa on Saturday.
They had defeated South Africa 3-0 away in Johannesburg in the first leg of their third round clash.
The Ethiopians had edged Uganda on the away goal rule in the second round, with aggregate scoreline stalemated at 3-3.
The Flamingos, who have played in every edition of the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup except one, are undefeated in this qualifying series and yet to concede a goal.
They hammered Democratic Republic of Congo 3-0 in Kinshasa and 5-0 in Benin City, for 8-0 aggregate scoreline, before sending the Egyptians packing 6-0.
The first leg of the Nigeria/Ethiopia final round fixture will hold on May 21, with the second leg taking place two weeks later.