Nigeria bounced back into contention at the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in India on Friday with a 4-0 trouncing of New Zealand in Goa.
The Flamingos, who lost 1-2 to Germany on Tuesday, started the game spiritedly.
They came close to scoring a number of times before Omowunmi Bello headed into the net after a sweet pull-out by left-back Tumininu Adeshina.
Right-back Miracle Usani, whose marvelous free-kick put Germany on the back-foot on Tuesday, scored her second goal of the tournament and Nigeria’s second of the day in the 34th minute.
Ajakaye, the team’s top goalscorer in the African qualifying campaign, missed with a header to Adeshina’s corner-kick on the hour mark, as the New Zealand goalkeeper punched the ball away.
Substitute Edidiong Etim and Ajakaye went on to miss opportunities within a minute.
But, in the 75th minute, midfielder Taiwo Afolabi scored Nigeria’s third goal by swinging the ball into the top right corner from 20 yards.
Etim had the last say in the fifth minute of six additional minutes played, when she capitalised on a defensive blunder to lift the ball past the opposing goalkeeper.
Friday’s victory has given Nigeria three precious points, and they now stand in good stead for qualification if they defeat Chile on Monday.
The match will be at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
