Nigeria failed to progress to the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup final after a 6-5 penalty loss to Colombia during their match on Wednesday.
GoldenNewsNg reports that Going into their semifinal clash, the morale of the Nigerian players was boosted by the presence of the NFF President, Ibrahim Gusau, who landed in India on Tuesday morning, October 25. The Flamingos started the match impressively against Colombia, but the North Americans took charge of the game just after 10 minutes.
Nigerian goalkeeper Omilana made good saves to deny Colombia girls from scoring in the first half as the first 45 minutes ended goallessly.
The Flamingos defended well in the second half as the Colombians tried all their efforts to get the breakthrough. Nigeria would have even scored the winner at the death when Afolabi laid down a good pass for Etimi, but she was unable to score. In the penalties, Nigeria had the chance to win, but Edafe lost the decisive kick and Colombia went on to win 6-5.
Meanwhile, the national team made history this year by reaching the last four, a stage they had previously never reached before. They defeated their United States counterparts 3-2 via penalty shootouts to reach the last four and when they promised to make it to the final, they lost to Colombia.
