Nigeria’s U-17 women’s team, the Flamingos, continued their strong start to the WAFU-B U-17 Girls Championship with a 4-2 victory over Ghana’s Black Princesses in a thrilling encounter in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire.
The six-goal contest saw Nigeria establish a two-goal advantage before Ghana mounted a second-half fightback. However, the Flamingos responded strongly despite being reduced to 10 players and eventually secured another important victory.
Nigeria took the lead in the 33rd minute when Oluwakemi Adegbuyi finished clinically to put the Flamingos ahead.
Captain Harmony Chidi then doubled Nigeria’s advantage in first-half stoppage time, giving the West Africans a 2-0 lead going into the break.
The complexion of the game changed in the 59th minute when Nigeria defender Elizabeth Adesuyi was shown a straight red card, leaving the Flamingos with 10 players for the remainder of the contest.
Ghana quickly capitalised on their numerical advantage, with captain Seidatu Wahab scoring from the resulting free-kick to reduce the deficit to 2-1.
Despite being a player down, Nigeria remained dangerous and restored their two-goal cushion in the 70th minute through Mary Dunstan.
Dunstan produced an individual piece of skill before rounding the goalkeeper and finding the net to make it 3-1.
Nigeria thought they had added another goal when Chidi found the net again, but the effort was ruled out for offside.
The Flamingos continued to defend their advantage while looking for opportunities on the counter, and their persistence paid off in the 87th minute.
Kaosarat Akanji struck from a free-kick to give Nigeria a 4-1 lead and put the result beyond Ghana’s reach.
Ghana managed to score again in the 90th minute through Gloria Ameaa, but the late effort proved to be only a consolation as Nigeria held on for a 4-2 victory.
The result gives the Flamingos another significant win in the competition and maintains their strong campaign as they continue their pursuit of regional honours.
Nigeria had earlier opened the tournament with a 5-0 victory over Niger Republic, meaning the Flamingos have now scored nine goals across their opening two matches.
