U17 Women’s World Cup: Flamingoes claim Nigeria’s only medal in 2022

The Nigerian Flamingoes proved up to the task in their match for third place at the U17 Women’s World Cup. They won the bronze medal against Germany, which turned out to be Nigeria’s only medal in football this year.

It was not just a medal won for the year, but a feat for African football, as they became the first African team to go this far since the inception of the Women’s World Cup. U17. Before the Nigeria Flamingoes reached the third place play-off, the senior women’s national team, the Super Falcons, had their chance to win the first medal when they played for third place in the Women’s AFCON, which took place in Morocco, which they lost against Zambia.

In addition to their defeat against Zambia, the Super Falcons have lost three matches in this tournament, which is a first in their history. However, the Flamingoes, who lost twice en route to the third-place game, managed to avoid suffering the same fate of losing three matches in a single tournament.

They faced the situation with total determination and made sure that Germany, who had already inflicted a 2-1 defeat on them in the group stage, gave them back their own coin. The Flamingoes were unafraid against Germany, despite losing in the opening game. They played as if meeting them for the first time and quickly took the lead, 1-0 in the first half.

In the second half, they scored two more goals to take a comfortable 3-0 lead before the Germans fought back like injured lionesses to equalize, which led to the penalty shootout. If there’s one thing the Flamingoes have achieved in this tournament, it’s achieving what the Super Falcons couldn’t achieve this year, and more importantly, winning Nigeria’s only medal in football in 2022.