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Nigeria’s
representatives at the 2010 FIFA Women’s U-17 World Cup, the Flamingoes
begin their quest for the title tonight (8:30 pm Nigerian time) when
they face defending champions, Korea Democratic Peoples Republic.

Organised by FIFA,
the U-17 Women World Cup, the tournament came on as a result of the
success of the first ever U-19 Women World Cup, which was hosted by
Canada in 2002.

Though continental
federations were sceptical that it will succeed, FIFA went ahead with
her plan after some modifications. The U-19 was changed to U-20 Women
World Cup and the first edition was held in Russia in 2006 while the
U-17 Championship was slated for 2008. Nigeria participated in the
maiden edition, hosted New Zealand, along with 15 other countries from
six continents. However, their opponents in today’s match are expected
to give them a hard time considering the rising profile of the women’s
game in that country.

Korea DPR won the
2006 edition of the U-20 championship and went on to win the inaugural
edition of the U-17 tournament brushing aside powerhouses like the
United States of America and England to win the tournament.

The present squad,
as well as their Coach Sin Ui-Gin, is determined to emulate the feat of
the last two years. And with players like Kim Kum-Jong, Yu Jong-Im and
Pong Son-Hwa the Flamingoes have their work cut out.

Journey to Trinidad and Tobago

Nigeria’s ride
through the qualifiers was a relatively easy one. They had been assured
of a ticket since May 2010 when they beat South Africa 7-1 to remain
Africa U-17 women champions. However, they were in danger of missing
out on the tournament when in July Nigerian President, Goodluck
Jonathan banned the Nigeria Football Federation from FIFA competitions
for two years. Had the ban not been lifted after threats of sanctions
from FIFA, the Flamingoes place at the competition would have been put
in jeopardy.

As the dominant
force in Africa, the Flamingoes are hoping to do better than they did
in their first outing. They had failed to go beyond the first round
when they were knocked out by England 1-0 even though they dominated
possession in the game. Their win over Korea Republic was not enough to
brace them for a battle with Brazil. In the latter match, with both
teams requiring a win to make the next round, but they drew thus
crashing out together.

Flamingoes coach,
Peter Dedevbo, has it all to do for his team to have any hope of
winning the title. Only one member of the present squad, Ngozi Okobi,
was in New Zealand two years ago meaning that he has to inject
confidence into his players to prevent them from developing stage
fright. Given the manner the ladies mauled the South Africans during
the qualifiers, that is possible. The confidence the ladies gained from
winning the two friendly matches they played while on tour of the USA
is sure to come in handy.

Though two of the
teams in Nigeria’s group – hosts Trinidad and Tobago and Chile – are
coming to the tournament for the first time, the Flamingoes cannot take
them for granted.

Dedevbo says the achievement of the Falcons will be a motivation for them to do more.

“The success of
[the Falconets] presents us with a big challenge. This is not the time
to lower our guard now that Nigerians are turning to women’s football.
We need to stay focused, and we can make the country proud,” he said.

Ghana hoping to get it right

Ghana will be more
confident at this present outing. In the 2008 edition, they barely made
it through the qualifiers and crashed out after the first round, but
not without valuable experience. This time however, the Maidens had a
better qualifier campaign.

Coach Abraham
Allotey who also led the team to the 2008 tournament is optimistic his
lasses will improve on their outing at the inaugural edition.

The girls camped
briefly in America before moving over to Trinidad and Tobago. Drawn
with the likes of Canada who reached the quarter finals two years ago,
a resilient Brazil, and relatively unknown Ireland who impressed in
Europe and came second after only losing to Spain on penalties, the
Ghanaian team is in for a tough time.

South Africa has always been involved in women’s football but this
is the first time they have been able to qualify for a World Cup. The
Bantwana began their campaign for this tournament in bold fashion
beating Botswana 22-1 on aggregate. They lost to Nigeria 7-1 but were
able to recover by beating Tunisia 3-1. South Africa is in the toughest
group after being drawn with Germany, Korea Republic and Mexico.
Germany was third in the last edition of the competition while Korea
Republic reached the quarter final stage before losing to USA.