Nigeria had a good performance, says Bala Nikyu

The Flamingoes coach has praised the effort of his team after they defeated Mexico to top Group D at the Fifa U17 Women's World Cup

Nigeria U17 women's coach Bala Nikyu has praised the performance of his team following their 3-0 victory over Mexico in their last group game on Monday morning.

The Flamingoes needed a win to secure top spot in Group and they got to a great start scoring two goals in 20 minutes before getting their third early in the second half.

Rasheedat Ajibade, Uchenna Kanu and Aminat Yakubu were the scorers in the emphatic victory over the North Americans who came into the game having scored eight goals without conceding any.

"We put in a very good performance, and we’re extremely happy to have beaten a strong Mexican side," Nikyu told Fifa.com.
"The result enables us to finish top of the group and to move on to the next stage full of confidence."

Mexico coach Leonardo Cuellar took some lessons from the game which saw his girls uncharacteristically fail to break down the West Africans.

"It was a tough match because our opponents took a very physical approach. It didn’t work out for us as we tried to match Nigeria physically instead of performing as a team," Cuellar said.

"We need to look at why we didn’t manage to play our usual game, and aim to do better against Japan."

Nigeria will take on Spain in the quarter final as they hope to make it to the semi finals for the first time.