‘Your wins are heartwarming for Nigeria’ — Dare hails Flamingos, Olympic Eagles

Sunday Dare, minister of youth and development, on Sunday, congratulated both the Nigeria U-17 women’s football team, the Flamingos, and the Olympic Eagles on their successes over the weekend.

The Flamingos became the first African team to finish on the podium at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India after beating Germany through penalties to pick the bronze medal.

The Olympic Eagles also defeated Tanzania 2-0 in Ibadan to finish 3-1 on aggregate after drawing the first leg 1-1 a week earlier in Dar es Salaam, to qualify for the next round of the CAF U-23 AFCON qualifiers.

In a statement, the minister said: “The victories are heartwarming for Nigeria and worth celebrating.

“I commend the coaches and the players of both teams for giving us their best performances as well as congratulate the Nigeria Football Federation for these successes.”

The Olympic Eagles will face either Uganda or Guinea in the final round of the U-23 AFCON qualifiers while football followers will hope to see a good number of the Flamingos grow through the ranks into the U-20 team in a few years.