The flamingos have to continue fighting because we have not reached that point yet; Team captain Azeezat Oduntan recognizes it

Following the Nigerian women’s cadet team, Flamingos’ stunning 3-1 victory over back-to-back champions Korea DPR in the ongoing FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, team captain Azeezat Oduntan said they still cannot relax.

READ ALSO: From super substitute to World Cup superstar! Kanyinsola Yusuf wins FIFA Man of the Match award as Flemings stun North Korea 3-1 | Sports247 Nigeria

Sports247 reports that instead of continuing to celebrate the victory that took them to the knockout stage of the competition as runners-up in their group, Sanusi said they “have to keep fighting” because they “aren’t there yet.”

It is surely a reference to their first knockout match in the current competition in Morocco, where coach Akeem Busari’s team are now a team to watch out for, having beaten Poland on goal difference, who defeated Nigeria 2-1 in their first match.

While Poland ultimately finished with no goal difference (after a 6-1 loss to Korea and a 6-2 win over Puerto Rico on Friday), Nigeria jumped into second place with a plus-three goal difference (2-0 over Puerto Rico and 3-1 against Korea).

However, while he enjoyed how they made great history on Friday night in Rabat, Oduntan admitted they just have to keep working hard, even as they look to surpass the Flamingos’ 2022 team that won bronze in India.

Expectations of a repeat now look quite realistic following Friday’s impressive victory, which fifa.com captured in graphical style, while noting that Busari’s team sent a shockwave through the entire competition with their victory.

The report states: “Nigeria achieved a historic victory by defeating two-time defending champions Korea DPR. They opened the scoring through Oluwakemi Adegbuyi, who collected a ball from the left, beat a defender and finished with his right foot.

“The African team wanted more and scored a second shortly before half-time when Oluebube Umejiaku ran through the Korea DPR half and beat goalkeeper Kim Son-gyong.

“Korea DPR came out with a sense of urgency to start the second half, but Nigeria did well to withstand the pressure and then found a devastating third goal thanks to an exquisitely taken free kick by Kanyinsola Yusuf. The defending champions pulled a goal back thanks to a late Yu Jong-hyang penalty conversion, but the day belonged to Nigeria.”

Oduntan said afterwards: “I’m very proud of my teammates because they all came out and chose to play. We have to keep going and keep fighting. I feel excited, but we’re not there yet because we just qualified for the next round.”

Sports247 further learned that Adegbuyi put the ball back into Korea’s net in the 88th minute, but the VAR ruled it out and at the end of the whole night of emotions, Kanyinsola Yusuf emerged as player of the match.