Olowookere proud of his U17 Flamingos despite World Cup exit

Flamingos head coach, Bankole Olowookere says he is super proud of his girls despite losing 2-0 to their USA counterparts in their quarterfinals clash to crash out of the FIFA Women’s U17 World Cup in Dominican Republic.

The game, a rematch of their quarter-final tie two years ago in India where the Nigerians won via penalty shootout, saw the Americans took their pound of flesh at the CFC Stadium in Santiago de los Caballeros.

The American U17 girls scored the first goal via penalty after Jocelyn Travers was brought down in the area and Kennedy Fuller tucked scored to give a 1-0 first half lead. Kimmi Ascanio scored the second in the second half to secure their passage to the semifinals of the competition for the first time in their history.

‘I’m so proud of the girls, they’ve given it their best, come all this way and they are kids who are developing. They’ve given their best but maybe their best was not good enough. To my fellow Nigerians, we can go beyond this level, and we will try and be better next time,’ said Olowookere in his post-match presser.

Shakirat Moshood emerged the team’s top scorer with four goals from her 24 attempts which were the most attempted by a player in the team.

Captain Taiwo Afolabi made 223 passes, the most by any player in the team and Khadijat Adegoke made 19 crosses, also the most by a Flamingo at the tournament.

Faridat Abdulwah bagged two assists in the competition and are the most by any Flamingo.