2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup: Flamingos Suffer 4–1 Defeat To Canada In Opening Match
2 min read
By Sportsgister
Nigeria’s U-17 women’s national team, the Flamingos, endured a tough start to their 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup campaign after falling 4–1 to Canada in their Group D opener on Sunday in Morocco.
Despite flashes of promise, the Flamingos struggled to contain a clinical Canadian side that capitalized on defensive lapses to secure a commanding win.
Canada got off to a dream start when Gabriela Istocki opened the scoring just two minutes into the game. Nigeria’s Azeezat Oduntan went close in the 15th minute but failed to find the back of the net.
The Flamingos found their rhythm midway through the first half and deservedly drew level in the 30th minute through Queen Joseph, who finished off a well-worked team move.
However, Canada continued to threaten, with Istocki nearly restoring their lead nine minutes later. Early in the second half, Nigeria created two good scoring chances in quick succession (50th and 54th minutes) but were unable to convert.
A VAR review for a potential Canadian penalty around the hour mark was waved off, but the relief was short-lived. In the 73rd minute, Melisa Kekic put Canada ahead once again before Julia Amireh struck twice in the closing stages (80th and 84th minutes) to complete the rout.
With this result, Canada tops Group D, while the Flamingos will look to recover quickly as they prepare to face France in their next fixture on Wednesday, October 22. France began their campaign with an impressive 4–2 victory over Samoa.
The Nigerian girls will now be aiming for a response to keep their qualification hopes alive.
Sedara Philip is a Sports writer, an administrator,Journalist,and editor
