Nigeria boosted their chances of qualifying for the 2024 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup with a crushing victory over Liberia in the first leg of the final round of qualifiers, Soccernet.ng reports.
The Flamingos have been to all but one of the previous seven editions of the World Cup and look set to make it to the Dominican Republic 2024 following their dominating 4-1 win at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Stadium on Sunday.
Abidemi Moshood opened the scoring for Nigeria in the 19th minute before the excellent Peace Effiong doubled the advantage ten minutes later.
Fresh from netting a sensational hat-trick in the 6-0 thrashing of Burkina Faso last month, Harmony Chidi took off from where she left off after she smashed home Nigeria’s third goal in the 36th minute.
Nigeria took their foot off the throttle after the break but substitute Blessing Ifitezue added the fourth for the Flamingos midway through the second half.
However, Liberia pulled one back through Yassah Gwaikolo from the spot three minutes from time after the referee penalised Onyedikachi Ekezie’s error.
Still, Nigeria boast a healthy advantage to hold on to ahead of the return fixture on Friday, June 14.
The return leg of the tie is scheduled for the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja with the aggregate winner set to join two other nations that will represent Africa at the Mundial.
The Flamingos won Nigeria’s first World Cup medal at India 2022, after beating Germany 3-2 on penalties in the tournament’s third-place match following a 3-3 draw at fulltime.
Coach Bankole Olowookere will look to propel Nigeria to become the first African U17 team to reach the World Cup final should the Flamingos qualify for the showpiece in the Dominican Republic.