Nigeria’s U-17 women’s football team, the Flamingos, secured a hard-fought victory over Japan to book win the world cup tournament.
As the match entered its final stages, Nigeria focused on protecting their lead while still looking for opportunities to extend it.
In the 83rd minute, Kanyinsola Yusuf went into the referee’s book with a yellow card, but the Flamingos maintained their attacking threat through further attempts from Umejiaku and Yusuf.
Japan refused to go down without a fight and had a late scoring opportunity through Mashiro Yamaji, but the Nigerian defense held firm. The tension remained high until the 94th minute when Umejiaku was flagged for offside, shortly before the referee blew the final whistle after five minutes of added time.
Recall that the team had showed incredible resilience since suffering a 2-1 defeat to Poland in their opening match. From there, they rallied to win five consecutive games, powering their way to the final and winning it.
