Tonight in Rabat, Morocco, the Flamingos of Nigeria became only the first African team to reach the final of the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup.
Awawu Bashiru has doubled Nigeria’s lead in the 71st minute, giving the Flamingos a 2-0 cushion over Brazil in their FIFA U-17 World Cup semi-final. NIGERIA U17 2-0 BRAZIL U17 #Flamingos #U17WWC #NTASports24 https://t.co/jdZwzNBrCP
— NTA Sports 24 (@ntasports_24) November 4, 2026
And they did this in super style after they shot past mighty Brazil 3-1 in the semifinal.
On Saturday, they will battle Japan for the ultimate prize.
Japan stopped fellow Asians and defending champions North Korea in the earlier semifinal 4-1 on penalties after both teams played out a 1-1 draw in regulation time.
Nigeria were deserved winners tonight as they had at least 30 attempts at goal with eight of them on target, while Brazil were reduced to only four shots for the entire game.
The Flamingos took their chances well with the defense led by skipper Azezat Oduntan snuffing out the Brazilians like a vacuum cleaner.
After a goalless first half during which Nigeria delivered wave after wave of attacks, they were finally rewarded in the 56th minute, when Queen Joseph slotted home from inside the box after some great work by the exciting Kemi Adegbuyi.
Two minutes later, Adegbuyi was only denied her own goal after the Brazil goalkeeper saved on the goalline.
The team’s leading scorer Oluebube Umiajiaku then saw her powerful shot miss narrowly as Nigeria continued to press for more goals to their credit.
Mary Dunstan ought to have made it 2-0 on 61 minutes only for the Brazil shot stopper to deny her.
However, Awawu Bashiru, who was selected ahead of Tosin Rafiu for this match, finally doubled the Nigerian advantage in the 71st minute, when her cross-shot sailed into the Brazil net.
Bashiru completed her brace on 80 minutes, when she drove through the Brazilian defense before she hit her target.
Brazil scored a consolation goal a minute to fulltime, but it proved too little, too late for the South Americans.
