Flamingos ease past Galatasaray in warm up game
World Cup-bound Nigeria’s U17 girls lashed leading Turkish women’s club, Galatasaray Women 3-1 in a friendly match in the Turkish town of Kocaeli on Saturday, barely 24 hours after the Congress of Nigeria Football elected Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau as the President of Nigeria Football Federation.
Opeyemi Ajakaye scored Nigeria’s first in the 26th minute of the encounter, which was Flamingos’ first serious knock-about since arriving in Turkey on Tuesday for a 10-day training camp ahead of this year’s FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup finals in India.
Edidiong Etim increased the tally eight minutes later but Ebru Topliv reduced the deficit for Galatasaray just one minute before recess to ensure the half time ended 2-1 in favour of Nigeria’s glory-chasing girls.
Etim made Nigeria’s dominance pay with her second and the Flamingos’ third in the 77th minute.
Coach Bankole Olowookere praised the girls for the competitive spirit they showed in the match and is confident this would be a positive for the team’s campaign at the FIFA World Cup finals.
The Flamingos will be facing one of the toughest nuts to crack when they take on Germany in their first match of the campaign in Goa on Tuesday, 11th October.
