Flamingos Soar Past Ghana in Six-Goal WAFU-B Thriller

Nigeria’s Flamingos produced a resilient performance to beat Ghana’s Black Princesses 4-2 in a thrilling WAFU-B U17 Girls Championship encounter in Yamoussoukro on Friday.

After a cagey opening period in which both sides missed chances, Nigeria gradually took control following the cooling break and were rewarded in the 33rd minute when Oluwakemi Adegbuyi broke the deadlock with a fine finish.

The Flamingos doubled their advantage in first-half stoppage time through captain Harmony Chidi to take a 2-0 lead into the interval.

Nigeria’s task became significantly harder in the 59th minute when defender Elizabeth Adesuyi was shown a straight red card for a foul on a Ghanaian attacker.

Ghana immediately took advantage of the numerical advantage, with captain Seidatu Wahab scoring directly from the resulting free-kick to reduce the deficit to 2-1.

However, the Flamingos refused to buckle despite being a player down.

Mary Dunstan restored Nigeria’s two-goal advantage in the 70th minute with an excellent individual effort, beating her marker before rounding the goalkeeper to make it 3-1.

Harmony Chidi appeared to have added another goal shortly afterwards, but her effort was ruled out for offside.

Nigeria remained dangerous, though, and Kaosarat Akanji effectively sealed the victory in the 87th minute when she produced a superb finish from a free-kick to put the Flamingos 4-1 ahead.

Ghana scored a second consolation goal through Gloria Ameaa in the 90th minute, but Nigeria held on for a deserved 4-2 victory.

The Flamingos’ ability to maintain their organisation and attacking threat for more than 30 minutes with 10 players underlined their resilience and tactical discipline.

The victory strengthens Nigeria’s position in the championship and keeps the Flamingos firmly in contention for the WAFU-B U17 Girls title.