Flamingos must be clinical – Olowookere
Bankole Olowookere
Despite recording a convincing win in their first preparatory match ahead of their U-17 women’s World Cup qualifying fixture against Burkina Faso, Flamingos head coach, Bankole Olowookere, insisted that his team must be clinical in competitive games, reports.
The Nigeria U-17 women’s national team, on Saturday thrashed Soccer Talent Academy 9-1 in Abuja, as they begin preparation for the weekend game in Bamako.
The visitors drew the first blood when their striker took advantage of poor communication between goalkeeper Ijeoma Uzoma and defender Prisca Nwachukwu.
However, their celebration did not last long as Harmony Chidi equalised a few minutes later to open the floodgate of goals for Flamingos. Two minutes later, Etim Edidiong put Flamingos ahead with a superb strike from outside the box.
The two goalscorers then found the back of the net again to put the home side in a comfortable lead at halftime.
Immediately after the start the second half, Olowookere’s side continued the push for more goals and their efforts paid off when Yetunde Ayantosho added another one from close range.
Aisha Animashaun then joined the party with a brace before Funke Arogundade and Ramota Kareem wrapped up the goals-galore with good tap-ins.
Reacting to their convincing win, Olowookere warned that his side must remain clinical and convert their chances.
“Despite scoring a lot of goals today, we missed a lot of chances too and we cannot afford to do that in a competitive match,” he said.
“We must utilise our chances to score goals against Burkina Faso so that the return leg at home will be a walk in the park for us.
“I have noticed one or two things that must be corrected before our next friendly match and the girls must understand the difference between training session and match situation.”
The Flamingos’ delegation will depart from Abuja on Wednesday to Bamako where they will face the Burkinabe U-17 women’s team on Saturday.
Nigeria have appeared at every edition of the U-17 women’s World Cup finals bar one – the 2018 finals staged in Uruguay.
