Nigeria’s Flamingos secured a place in the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup semi-finals in Morocco after Azeezat Oduntan converted an 89th-minute penalty to seal a 1-0 quarter-final victory over Venezuela.
The result sends Nigeria into the last four of the global youth tournament for only the second time in their history. They will face Brazil on Wednesday for a place in the final.
Nigeria controlled much of the opening half but were repeatedly denied by Venezuela goalkeeper Valeria Rebanales. Oluebube Umejiaku and Oluwakemi Adegbuyi also failed to find the target during a dominant Flamingos display. Favour Nkwocha, later selected as Player of the Match, received a yellow card as Nigeria continued to push for a breakthrough, while coach Hakeem Busari made just one substitution, replacing Adegbuyi with Precious Oscar.
As the contest appeared to be heading towards a penalty shootout, Umejiaku was brought down by Migleydys Bolsegui inside the area. The referee awarded a spot-kick and, after a VAR check confirmed the decision, Oduntan calmly placed her effort into the corner to win the match.
Brazil will provide the next challenge after overturning a deficit to defeat China PR 2-1. China took the lead in the 42nd minute when Wu Yichen fired into the top corner, but Brazil equalised only 42 seconds after the restart through Helena. Helena then completed the comeback in the 87th minute, finishing a cross from Greise Kelly. She was named Player of the Match.
The second semi-final will be an all-Asian encounter after reigning champions DPR Korea beat the United States 3-0 in their bid for a third consecutive title. Ri Ui-gyong struck in the 30th and 56th minutes, while Ri Ye-rim added another goal in first-half stoppage time, at 45+4. Ri Ui-gyong has now scored five goals at this edition of the tournament and eight in total. USA goalkeeper Avellina Saunders saved a penalty, but her side could not prevent a heavy defeat. DPR Korea coach Ji Yun-nam described Ri as “the foundation of our team.”
Japan completed the semi-final line-up with a 1-0 victory over Ghana, reaching this stage for the first time since 2016. Nanami Kurita scored the decisive goal in the 54th minute after the ball rebounded into her path, ending Japan’s sequence of four successive quarter-final eliminations. Coach Sadayoshi Shirai said his players took the emotions of those previous teams with them onto the field, while Fuki Ito received the Player of the Match award.
