Nigeria 0:1 France U-17 Women World Cup - Reflection

A late goal from France's Maïssa Fathallah was enough to nail the Flamingo's chances of progression in this tournament to the cross of hopelessness. Coach Bankole's girls now have zero points from 2 games, more or less guaranteeing elimination in the group stage.

The team would start well but lose concentration, ideas and steam late in matches.

There was no standout player, which is odd as Nigeria produces quality players at the level – Chidi Harmony, Peace Effiong and Rasheedat Ajibade to mention a few.

The scouting for players must have been flawed and must have been riddled with corruption based on what we saw.

The players on show themselves actually performed with desire and commitment but ultimately, lack of quality let them down.

Poor direction and instructions from Coach Bankole didn’t help their cause. He accommodated the shooting of worthless long shots and he failed to discourage disastrous selfish play.

We fans focus too much on strikers but the backbone (no pun intended) of a solid team comes from parading quality, capable defenders. From the goalkeeper to the outfield defensive apparatus, they all exhibited substandard skillset which ultimately doomed the team against France, against Canada in the first game too.