Izuchukwu Okosi
Nigeria’s 21-woman squad for tFlamingos’-17 Women’s World Cup in India was released on Friday evening with captain Alvine Dah-Zossu and top scorer during the qualifiers Opeyemi Ajakaye topping the list reports Prime Business Africa.
The Flamingos will play in Group B where they will face Germany, Chile and New Zealand.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelMatches of this year’s tournament will hold at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Pandit Jawarharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa and the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
The Flamingos’ first game is against Germany on October 11 in Goa at 4pm Nigeria time. The team will then play New Zealand and Chile on October 14 and 17.
The team were hosted to a dinner Thursday night by the High Commissioner to Nigeria His Excellency Gangaharan Balasubramanian and are expected to depart for Turkey next week for a 10-day training camp before making the trip to India.
The India High Commissioner tasked the team to ensure that they perform excellently and produce the next Asisat Oshoala and Francisca Ordega, two of the Super Falcons powerhouses who were once youth internationals for the Nigerian national team.
The Flamingos are coached by Bankole Olowookere who steered the team to the tournament after a 5-0 aggregate win over Ethiopia in the last rounds of qualifiers.
Since the competition was launched in New Zealand 14 years ago, Nigeria has only been absent at the tournament in 2019 staged in Uruguay.
21 Flamingos for FIFA World Cup:
Goalkeepers: Faith Omilana; Linda Jiwuaku; Jessica Inyiama
Defenders: Olamide Oyinlola; Josephine Edafe; Comfort Folorunsho; Miracle Usani; Tumininu Adeshina; Blessing Sunday; Alase Attervall; Immaculata Offiong
Midfield: Chidera Okenwa; Blessing Emmanuel; Mary Aderemi; Bisola Mosaku; Taiwo Afolabi
Forward: Omowunmi Bello; Opeyemi Ajakaye; Edidiong Etim; Alvine Dah-Zossu; Yetunde Ayantosho.
The FIFA U-17 Women’s World Groups
GROUP A: India, USA, Morocco, Brazil
GROUP B: Germany, Nigeria, Chile, New Zealand
GROUP C: Spain, Colombia, Mexico, China
GROUP D: Japan, Tanzania, Canada, France
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
