Guinea Vs Nigeria (U-17 Women): 0-5. Retrospective Review

It is fair to say that Coach Akeem Busari’s tenure as the Flamingos’ head coach kicked off with fierily furious fireworks after his young ladies brushed Guinea aside in a 5:0 romp this weekend to edge ever so closer to world cup qualification!

Though a superstar in the making, it is not always that easy to get a tune out of effervescent centre forward Chidi Harmony.

But Harmony was dancing all the way to the bank, looting 3 goals from the vault of possibilities to signal her return to peak performance after painful periods out due to injuries.

And Harmony will have to be on top of her game if she is to continue shouldering the lion share of goals scoring responsibilities for the team for the remainder of this qualification series.

Coach Busari had said before the encounter that he didn’t want to “overload his girls with too much (technical) information; just for his girls to approach the match with the right blend of physicality and tactics.”

And I have to agree with this coaching pedagogue. Underage football doesn’t benefit from overthinking. That will come in time.

Hence, Chidi Harmony (who scored earlier) didn’t overthink the scenario for her second goal of the match, blasting a volley over the flailing arms of the hapless Guinea goalkeeper for 2:0.

Adegbuyi’s goal was twice as simple: receive the cross; control the ball; crash the net, job done. 3:0.

A staple of Coach Moses Aduku of the Falconets also reared its beautiful head here as the Flamingos used a through ball (Aduku’s go-to strategy) to part a sea of Guinean defenders before Harmony finished with aplomb for her hat-trick. 4:0, and it was still the first half.

Dunstan would rub Garri into Guinea wound in 56 minutes to make it 5 goals to nil: a great day in the office; a handsome victory in the bag, a team in cloud nine.

Earlier, I referenced Coach Busari’s statement on his girls’ physicality. Perhaps he wants to limit the saccharine he puts in their tea before matches because a few of our tackles were crunchy, to say the least. These will earn the comeuppance of a red card in the world cup if not nipped in the bud.

Other than that, the midfield looks good, the goalkeeper wasn’t overly tested, the strike force looks dialled in and the entire team looks to have the stomach for the fight, Groovy!!!

Well done everyone, we love you!