By Victor Kanayo
Two of Nigeria’s U-17 football teams – Male and Female participating in the ongoing 22nd National Sports Festival (NSF) have experienced different outcomes.
While the men’s team – Golden Eaglets suffered defeat in the semi-final clash of the NSF football event, their women counterpart, mostly known as Flamingos, progressed to the final.
Heritage Times HT reports that the Golden Eaglets will now contest for the bronze medals after they lost 1-2 to Team Ogun.
In the first semi-final, Team Kwara defeated Team Kaduna by a lone goal to qualify for the final of the male football event, which will be held on Tuesday at the MKO Abiola Sports Complex.
In the female event, the Flamingos flew their way into the final after a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Team Ogun.
Forward player Shakirat Moshood made no mistake from six yards after the 2022 FIFA World Cup bronze medallists were awarded a penalty with minutes left in the encounter.
They will now face Team Delta in Tuesday’s grand finale, after the latter dismissed Team Osun 4-1 in the first semi-final.
The third-place matches will take place at the Remo Stars Stadium, while the final of the male and female events will hold at the MKO Abiola Sports Complex in Abeokuta.
The Golden Eaglets and Flamingos are participating in the 22nd NSF as part of the praiseworthy Invited Junior Athletes (IJA) initiative of the National Sports Commission (NSC).
Meanwhile, Delta, Bayelsa and Ogun are currently leading the medals table three days to the end of the festival.
