Nigeria’s Flamingos captain, Azeezat Oduntan, has emphasized that the team must maintain their momentum and keep fighting until they achieve their ultimate goal at the ongoing 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco.

Oduntan made the remarks following Nigeria’s impressive 3-1 victory over North Korea on Friday, a result that officially secured the squad’s place in the knockout stages.

After suffering a narrow 2-1 defeat to Poland in their opening match and rebounding with a win against Puerto Rico, the Nigerian side needed a strong performance against North Korea to keep their campaign on track, and they delivered in spectacular fashion.

Oluwakemisola Adegbuyi opened the scoring for Nigeria 15 minutes into the match before Oluebube Umejiaku doubled the advantage in the 38th minute. Rodiat Yusuf then added a third 11 minutes into the second half. Although Yu Jong-Hyang pulled one back from the penalty spot late in the game for North Korea, the Flamingos comfortably saw out the victory.

Reflecting on the match in a chat with FIFA.com, Oduntan expressed immense pride in her teammates’ resilience and focus:

“I’m super proud of my teammates because they all came out and chose to play. We have to keep going and keep fighting. I feel excited, but we are not there yet because we just qualified for the next round.”