Get Guardian on GooglePundits describe Nigeria as the most intriguing team among the four in the semifinals of the ongoing FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. The Flamingos lost their opening match of the tournament but have since beaten Puerto Rico, the seemingly unbeatable North Korea, Mexico and Venezuela, giving them a tough route to the semifinals, which they navigated anyway.
Now their reward for getting to the last four of a competition that has seen the backs of all the European nations is a clash with Brazil on Wednesday.
The game is picked as a contest of teams with contrasting styles, but Brazil is adamant that they cannot be intimidated by the muscular Africans.
After playing in an enthralling 3-3 draw with Ghana earlier in the competition, the Brazilians know all about the threat an African nation can pose.
Brazil’s Coach, Rilany Silva, is already preparing for what she expects to be a bruising battle.
“I’m expecting an extremely difficult match,” Rilany said. “Nigeria are a very physical team. By the 90th minute, they’ll probably still be running as if it were the fifth. We’ll need to be very strategic with our game plan to find ways to hurt Nigeria.”
The former international defender is not alone in her assessment of the Flamingos, who stunned followers of the championship when they defeated defending champions, North Korea, 3-1 last week,
Flying winger Greise Kelly, who contributed two assists in the quarterfinal victory over China, also rates Nigeria highly, but she believes the Samba girls have the edge in their fighting spirit.
“There’s a lot at stake in the match,” Greise said. “We’ll bring fighting spirit, determination and, as always, a strong mentality. We know they’re not a weak team. I think it’s going to be a very evenly matched game.”
Greise said that the battles they have overcome since they came to Morocco have given them the mental strength to overcome all obstacles.
She said: “Despite all the battles we face on the pitch, we have one major strength: our mentality.
“Despite the mistakes and the ups and downs during matches, we manage to pick ourselves back up. We knew it was going to be a difficult match, and that’s why we’ve been working harder and harder to go as far as possible.”
The battle for the championship’s top prize has been narrowed to teams from Asia, South America and Africa. The teams are defending champions North Korea, Japan, Nigeria and Brazil.
Europe sent five teams to Morocco – Germany, France, Norway, Poland and Spain – but none survived to the quarterfinals stage. European champions Germany were beaten by Venezuela in the round of 16, France lost a shootout to China, Poland went out to Brazil and Spain were knocked out by the USA. Norway had already fallen in the group stage.
The Americans did not get much time to enjoy removing Spain. Two-time defending champions North Korea promptly dismantled them 3-0 in Sunday’s quarter-final, peppering 33 shots at the US goal and forcing goalkeeper Avellina Saunders into nine saves as Ri Ui-gyong scored twice.
It was another reminder of North Korea’s grip on this age group. They have won four U-17 Women’s World Cups in total and are chasing a third consecutive title after their 2024 and 2025 wins. They have also gone unbeaten in a knockout match at the competition since 2010 (except extra time/penalties).
Their one stumble in Morocco came against Nigeria, who beat them 3-1 in the group stage – North Korea’s first normal-time defeat at the tournament for almost eight years.
Fellow AFC member nation, Japan, now get the next attempt at stopping them.
The 2014 champions have quietly put together arguably the tidiest tournament of anyone left. They won all three group games without conceding, beat Kenya 3-1 in the last 16 and then edged Ghana 1-0 to reach their first semifinal since 2016.
That leaves Japan with 13 goals scored and just one conceded across five matches, along with three clean sheets.
The competition is in the second year of FIFA’s expanded 24-team, annual format, with Morocco hosting five editions from 2025 through 2029.
