Nigeria Women U-17 head coach Bankole Olowookere has expressed optimism ahead of their clash against France on Wednesday, SportPremi reports.
The Flamingos face their French counterparts in the ongoing FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup on match-day two, seeking their first win of the tournament.
Nigeria had defeated Algeria 4-0 in the final qualifying round to clinch their eighth appearance at the tournament, since making their debut in 2008.
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They suffered a 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Canada in their opening game and must avoid another defeat to keep their hopes of reaching the knockout stages alive.
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Despite a brilliant first 45 minutes, the performance level dropped in the second half as they conceded three goals in the final 17 minutes to lose the match.
Nigeria must now avoid defeat in both of their remaining group games against 2012 champions France and debutant Samoa, to stand any chance of reaching the last 16.
Olowookere confident of Flamingos’ chances
The Flamingos face a tough test against France, but must put in their best performance to pick up maximum points.
Speaking ahead of the crucial tie, head coach Bankole Olowookere believes his side must put behind their poor display against Canada and focus on the clash against the French side.
“We have seen the mistakes, we told ourselves there were cracks in the first game which we needed to fix,” Olowookere said.
“We have identified the mistakes from the first match. Towards the end of that game, we conceded three goals, cheap goals in my opinion. It is also important we work on our concentration. It is important that we ensure that it does not happen again.
“If you also look at the first half of that game we were in total control but failed to make use of use of our chances. We should avoid a repeat of that in the next game.”
