History Beckons: Flamingos One Win Away From Becoming Africa’s First U-17 Double World Champions
Nigeria will become the first African country to win FIFA World Cups in both the U-17 men and women categories if the in-form Flamingos defeat Japan in Saturday’s potentially explosive 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Final in Rabat.
The clash at Pitch 3 of the Complexe Mohammed VI has all the trappings of a flaming war, with the Nigerian girls vowing to play the game of their lives, lift the trophy and present it to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the coming days.
The Flamingos started slowly, losing 1-2 to Poland in their first match, and were not convincing in their win over Puerto Rico in their second game.
But they removed all masks in their last group match, thrashing Cup-holders and two-time winners Korea DPR 3-1 to qualify as group runners-up.
Big and barnstorming Mexico fell 2-1 in an exhilarating Round of 16, before Venezuela, surprise winners against Germany, were upended in the quarter-finals.
Any doubts about the quality of the Flamingos were erased in a dominant semi-final performance that left an otherwise brilliant Brazil begging for mercy in a 3-1 hiding. The Nigerian girls hit 30 shots on goal in that encounter, and could have been six goals up before the South Americans grabbed a consolation goal with one minute left.
That lightning semi-final outing underlined the prolificity of the Flamingos in this competition, in which they have scored a total of 115 goals since appearing in the inaugural edition in New Zealand 18 years ago. They have appeared in every tournament since then bar one, the 2018 finals in Uruguay, which they missed after losing to Cameroon on the away-goal rule in the final round of African qualifying.
Nigeria’s opponents in Saturday’s final were not meant to be there, until the last seconds of their semi-final when Korean defender Won Sol-gyong put the ball into her own net to tie the game 1-1, before the Japanese prevailed on penalties.
Japan have scored 150 goals in the competition since the inaugural edition in 2008, the highest tally by any team, and alongside New Zealand, are the only nations to have appeared in every tournament since then. Saturday’s final is their fourth, having won in 2014 by beating Spain 2-0 in Costa Rica, while losing in 2010 and 2016.
The Flamingos, meanwhile, have registered 113 attempts on goal in this year’s competition alone, and having upended Korea DPR and Brazil in clinical fashion, do not fear any opposition at this stage.
Their 12 goals have come from eight different players, a testimony to strength in depth. Oluebube Umejiaku has three goals, Awawu Bashiru and Oluwakemi Adegbuyi have two each, while Kanyinsola Yusuf, Queen Joseph, Mary Dunstan, Precious Oscar and Azeezat Oduntan have one each.
Oduntan, installed as captain following the benching of forward Harmony Chidi, has led quite well, including keeping her nerves to score from the penalty spot with one minute left of the difficult quarter-final against Venezuela.
Coach Hakeem Busari and his assistants have covered themselves in glory, switching tactics and personnel to completely befuddle opponents. Midfielder Awawu Bashiru, who netted a brace against Brazil, had amassed only 73 minutes as a substitute before the match. But she got the nod ahead of effervescent playmaker Tosin Rafiu for the demolition job on the Samba girls, and delivered.
Acting General Secretary of the NFF, Dr Emmanuel Ikpeme, who will be at Saturday’s final, has expressed immense confidence in the Flamingos.
‘The NFF has confidence in the ability of the Flamingos to make Nigerians beam with smiles of joy on Saturday. If Brazil could not stop them, I don’t see Japan doing so. This is surely the year of the Flamingos, and the year Nigeria will again celebrate a global title,’ Ikpeme said.
A powerful Federal Government delegation led by the Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Mallam Shehu Dikko, and including NSC Director General, Bukola Olopade, and Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service, CG Adewale Adeniyi, will also attend the final.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino and CAF President Patrice Motsepe are also expected at the big match.
