Bankole Olowookere, Nigeria’s female under-17 coach, believes his team will take home a bronze medal from the ongoing FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India.
Following a 6-5 penalty shootout loss to Colombia, the Flamingos will face Germany on Sunday for third place.
This will be the second time the Nigerian side will face Germany in this year’s tournament.
In his post-match remarks after the loss to Colombia, Bankole recalled the grief of having lost the semi-final game, but assured that they will put that behind them to scoop the bronze medal on Sunday.
He said, “It has happened like this, you can’t control it, and they will feel the pain, imagine if we were playing in the final. I will give them time to soak and after a while, we will come in as a parent, as a father, I will talk to them and the rest of my technical crew will play our parental role and calm them down.
“All is not lost, if we can put our heads together, we can still get something in the third-place match.
“The girls have done well, this is the semi-final, a big stage in the tournament, it’s a very tough match. As I told you, the more you progress, the more difficult it becomes. Colombia is a tough opponent; it is just unfortunate that they did not win the match during regulation time.”