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By Emmanuel Adeleke
Nigeria’s Under-17 team, Flamingos, will on Friday face their counterpart from the United States of America in the quarter-final of the ongoing FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai, India.
The Flamingos qualified for the quarter-final following a 2-1 win over Chile in their third Group B game at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, to finish second with six points behind Germany, who claimed maximum points in the group.
The game against the Americans who finished top of Group A ahead of Brazil with seven points is expected to be a stern test for the Nigerians.
The Americans are one of the free-scoring teams in the competition after scoring a total of 13 goals and conceding just once in the group stage.
The Americans thrashed host, India, 8-0 in their opening match, played a 1-1 draw against Brazil, and trounced Morocco 4-0 in their final group game.
The Flamingos are attempting to make their first semi-finals of the competition after three attempts while the Americans will be hoping to reach the same stage of the competition only for the second time since the first edition in 2008 where they finished as runners-up.