Nigeria pulled off one of the biggest upsets after beating the United States of America in the FIFA U17 World Cup quarter-final at D.Y Patil Sport Stadium in Mumbai, India on Friday, 21 October 2022.
The Flamingoes secured a 4-3 victory to earn their first ever FIFA U17 World Cup semi-final qualification.
In the 24th minute of play, USA defender Ella Emri fouled Amino Bello in the box, but Referee Luliana Demetrescu did not rule anything initially. The foul was then reassessed by VAR and the decision was overturned as Nigeria were awarded a penalty.
Omamuzo Edafe sent goalkeeper Valentina Amaral the wrong way and converted to give Nigeria the 1-0 lead.
USA did not back down as left winger Onyeka Gamero slipped a well-timed pass to Amalia Villarreal, who had made a good run on the overlap. Villarreal connected well, and the ball ended in the back of the net after taking a deflection off Comfort Folorunsho, who had tried to block the shot, to equalise.
After the final whistle and the match deadlocked at 1-all, a penalty shootout would determine the results.
USA’s Ella Emri was the first player to miss her penalty. Nigeria was nearing victory with the score 3-2 in its favour , but Folorunsho’s penalty miss meant that the shootout was not yet over for the USA.
However, the hope of winning the penalties was cut short as USA’S captain Riley Jackson’s penalty was saved.
With the shootout going into sudden death, USA’s keeper had to save the next penalty by Omamuzo Edafe, but Edafe kept her nerve to score and script history for Nigeria.
In the other match, Germany beat Brazil 2-0 to secure their spot in the semi-final.
Fixtures: 2022 FIFA U17 World Cup Quarter-Final on Saturday, 22 October
Columbia vs Tanzania – 13:00
Japan vs Spain – 16:30
Photo 1 Caption: Nigeria pulled off one of the biggest upsets after beating the United States of America in the FIFA U17 World Cup quarter-finals at D.Y Patil Sport Stadium in Mumbai, India on Friday, 21 October 2022. Photo: NG_SuperFalcons (Twitter)
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