Izuchukwu OkosiNigeria’s U-17 women’s national team the Flamingos on Monday afternoon finished their Group B campaign in the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India with a 2-1 defeat of Chile at the Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar reports Prime Business Africa.
The team coached by Bankole Oloworooke needed a win or draw to ensure qualification to the knockout stages and they got off to a brilliant start in the 4th minute when stand-in captain Blessing Emmanuel rattled the bottom left corner with a good strike.
The Flamingos piled on the pressure and had over 10 shots on target in the first half but could not find their way despite numerous scoring chances that came their way.
The relentless attack by Nigeria who will be making their fourth Quarterfinals appearance in the tournament’s history continued in the second half as Opeyemi Ajakaye who was topscorer in the qualifying stages in Africa but yet to score in India rattled the crossbar with a thunderous strike in the 74th minute.
Ajakaye the assist maker for Emmanuel’s goal found Amina Bello four minutes later and the latter also tried her luck from range which Chilean keeper Catalina Alvarado pushed away for a corner.
The Falcons scored their second goal in the 90th minute when Bisola Mosaku rifled hef shot to the top corner but the Chileans got a goal for their efforts when the VAR ruled that right back Omamuzo Edafe handled the ball inside the penalty area.
Nigeria will face the Group A winners in the quarterfinals with Brazil, USA or Morocco their next opponent depending on the results later Monday evening.
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.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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