{"id":12287,"date":"2026-11-08T08:15:52","date_gmt":"2026-11-08T08:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/08\/u-17-wwc-how-we-overcame-opening-defeat-to-win-title-oluebube\/"},"modified":"2026-11-08T08:15:52","modified_gmt":"2026-11-08T08:15:52","slug":"u-17-wwc-how-we-overcame-opening-defeat-to-win-title-oluebube","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/08\/u-17-wwc-how-we-overcame-opening-defeat-to-win-title-oluebube\/","title":{"rendered":"U-17 WWC: How we overcame opening defeat to win title \u2013 Oluebube"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"U-17<\/p>\n

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Nigeria\u2019s Flamingos forward, Oluebube Umejiaku, has explained how the team recovered from their opening defeat to Poland to win the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women\u2019s World Cup in Morocco.<\/p>\n

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Nigeria began their campaign with a 2-1 loss to Poland, despite Umejiaku scoring as a substitute. However, the team bounced back, treating every subsequent fixture as a final on their way to winning the competition.<\/p>\n

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The Flamingos defeated DPR Korea, Mexico and other opponents before overcoming Japan 2-1 in Saturday\u2019s final to claim the trophy.<\/p>\n

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Umejiaku, who started the tournament on the bench, became one of Nigeria\u2019s standout performers, scoring crucial goals, including in the final, and winning the Golden Ball award as the tournament\u2019s best player.<\/p>\n

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Speaking to FIFA.com after Nigeria\u2019s historic triumph, she said the players were determined to change their fortunes following the opening loss to Poland.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen we lost the first game against Poland, everybody said we needed to wake up because we didn\u2019t come here to look at anybody\u2019s face and we have to take every game as a final. We don\u2019t downgrade anything; we play and we put all our best into every game.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Umejiaku also reflected on her journey from a substitute to one of the tournament\u2019s most influential players, saying she remained hopeful of getting an opportunity to start.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEvery time I went to training and every time I slept, I told God that I\u2019m praying for all the people that are starting. But when I wanted to start, I just told God that it is my time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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Another key contributor to Nigeria\u2019s triumph was Awawu Bashiru, who initially had limited playing time under head coach Akeem Busari.<\/p>\n

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Bashiru played just 77 minutes between the opening match and the quarter-final against Venezuela before earning her first start against Brazil. She scored twice in that encounter and also opened the scoring in the final against Japan.<\/p>\n

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Reflecting on the team\u2019s achievement, Bashiru credited their success to teamwork and the technical crew\u2019s instructions.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m so happy, I\u2019m so excited and I\u2019m so grateful,\u201d she said. \u201cThe teamwork, instruction and listening to our coaches is why we got the goals and why we won the final. We are history-makers. We made Nigeria, and the millions of people there, proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Busari, meanwhile, explained that his decisions to change the starting line-up were based on the players\u2019 attitude, character and commitment rather than reputation.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNo matter how good you are, I\u2019m a coach that plays on character,\u201d Busari said of making those key changes. \u201cIt\u2019s all about mindset, attitude and merit; if they\u2019re there, you get your playing time. If they\u2019re not there, you\u2019re waiting to come in. As a coach, we want everyone to wire up and play together.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Nigeria\u2019s victory made the country the first African nation to win the FIFA U-17 Women\u2019s World Cup and the first from the continent to claim a women\u2019s FIFA tournament title.<\/p>\n

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Umejiaku expressed confidence that the triumph would mark the beginning of more success for Nigerian and African women\u2019s football.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m very happy because now we have broken the chain,\u201d Umejiaku added. \u201cIn Africa we always win \u2013 that\u2019s a promise. We\u2019ve won, and now we\u2019ll be winning and winning, that\u2019s just it. We thank God for everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Bashiru also promised that Nigeria would return with the same determination at the next edition of the competition.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe can expect more from Nigeria,\u201d Bashiru added. \u201cWe are winning and we\u2019ll bring the same energy, the same zing, at the next U-17 Women\u2019s [World Cup].\u201d<\/p>\n

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Busari described the triumph as a major boost for African football, saying it demonstrated the continent\u2019s growing competitiveness at youth level.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is a turnaround for Africa,\u201d Busari concluded. \u201cIn terms of youth-age football, it\u2019s improving and here we could really come and compete. Being a champion is going to go a long way to really motivate us, and we are sending a signal, a message to the world that Africa is really coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Vanguard News<\/a><\/p>\n

The post U-17 WWC: How we overcame opening defeat to win title \u2013 Oluebube<\/a> appeared first on Vanguard News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source: <\/p>\n

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Nigeria Sports News & Updates – Vanguard News<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nigeria\u2019s Flamingos forward, Oluebube Umejiaku, has explained how the team recovered from their opening defeat to Poland to win the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women\u2019s World Cup in Morocco. Nigeria began… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12287\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}