Amina Bello, who scored the second goal for the Falcons of Nigeria against Germany U-17 at the third-place match in the FIFA U-17 World Cup, has reacted after winning a bronze medal.
Nigeria started well and was rewarded when forward Opeyemi Ajakaye broke her goal drought in the 20th minute with a brilliant goal for the Flamingos.
The Falcons scored their second goal of the game three minutes after the first half, thanks to Amina Bello’s strike. Coach Olowookere Bankole’s girls had a comfortable lead when Etim Edidiong scored in the 63rd minute.
With seventeen minutes remaining, the Germans equalised all three goals, putting the game into penalty shootouts. It was also the Flamingos’ third penalty shootout of the competition; their last penalty kick was against Columbia in the semi-final.
The Nigerians finally smiled after the tie, winning a bronze medal as well as resulting in Ajakaye clinching Player of the Match for the third time in the competition.
In Navi Mumbai, the Nigerians under 17 won four and lost two matches. This was also the first time the West Africans reached the competition’s semi-finals since 2012.
After Ghana in 2012, Nigeria became the second African team to earn bronze, and after 10 years, a local coach, Olowookere Bankole, led the Falcons to a bronze medal after local technical head, Mas-Ud Didi Dramani, did it with Ghana in Azerbaijan against Germany.
To commemorate the achievement, Super Eagles captain and philanthropist Ahmed Musa promised the squad a 3 million Naira bounty in a reply to the Super Falcons’ tweet hailing Nigeria’s historic success. “Congratulations.”
The skipper of the Falcons, who scored the second goal against Germany, could not hide her emotions and reacted on her official Twitter handle, @AminaBello_7.
The player for Naija Ratels of the Nigeria Women’s Football League (NWFL) Premiership tweeted that she was happy to score against Germany and, in the end, won a bronze medal with the U-17 team of Nigeria women.
The tweet read, “I’m happy to score a goal against Germany as we finished as the 3rd best team in the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup. Gracias Nigerians.”
