U-17 World Cup: Flamingoes performed below expectation, says Sports Director

Tunde Kazeem, Director of Sports, Kwara State, on Saturday said Nigeria’s Flamingoes performed below expectation in the U-17 Women’s World Cup in Amman, Jordan.

The Flamingoes were defeated 3-0 by North Korea in their last Group C match, after a 0-0 draw against England and 0-1 loss to Brazil.

With the results, the Nigerian team crashed out of the ongoing fifth edition of the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in Jordan, thus recording the country’s worst outing at the competition.

“The team performed below expectation.

“Nigerians had expected much from them but I don’t know what happened. It is not a good result at all.

“Nigeria has been doing very well in underage competitions and losing at the preliminary stage is not good enough,” Kazeem told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) shortly after the team’s ouster,

He said the team got it wrong from the first match against Brazil.

“If they had picked the three points, it would have boosted their morale, because in tournaments like this, your first match matters a lot.

“Early preparation is all Nigeria needs to succeed in sports. We cannot become champions overnight; success begins with early and quality preparations”, Kazeem said.

The Flamingoes, in the last edition in 2014, reached the quarter finals of the event before losing 0-3 to Spain in Costa Rica.