A late goal in the 86th minute by Loveth Ayila, gave Nigeria a 2-1 win over a plucky T&T's Soca Princesses,�in their second Group A match of the Fifa Under-17 Women's�World Cup at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella, last night. Going into the match, the Soca Princesses, coached by Norwegian Even Pellerud were hoping to build on their historic 2-1 win over Chile in Sunday's opener at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo. However, the Nigerians were also coming off a confidence-lifting 3-2 win over defending champions, Korea DPR and after weathering T&T's early storm took the match to the Soca Princesses with their crisp passing game.
After coming close on a few occassions it was no surprise when the West Africans went ahead in the 28th minute when Francisca Ordega was faster to a ball over the T&T defence and headed into an open net over the onrushing Jones, who had previously shown a clear sense of judgement in the T&T goal. Seven minutes later, T&T was back on level terms thanks to the impressive Liana Hinds, who had netted the winner against Chile.
Hinds was on spot to fire over the head of two Nigerian defenders after her pass to Khadidra Debesette on the�left side of the Nigeria defence saw the latter's attempt crash off the legs of Nigeria goalkeeper Amina Abu and back into Hinds path.
However, just before the break, Nigeria almost regained the lead through Ordega, who managed to get around Khadisha Debesette, the other half of the twin-sisters in the T&T starting line-up, but she dragged her effort wide of the target. On the resumption, Ayila almost regained the lead for the second time, while at the other end of the field, a long ball into the Nigeria penalty-area by Khadidra Debesette took a wicked bounce off the slippery turf and almost caught Abu off her line in the Nigeria goal. Second-half introduction, Jo-Marie Lewis wasted a golden chance to put T&T in front in the 68th minute when she was picked out by a long free-kick over the top from diminutive right back Rose Bahadursingh, but with the goal at her mercy she fired straight into the feet of goalkeeper Abu.
Four minutes from the end, Ayila broke the hearts of the Soca Princesses when she headed in the match winner from a left sided centre to push her team to maximum six points and an almost certain spot in the quarterfinals with a match against winless Chile to come on Sunday at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Malabar, from 6 pm. With the loss, T&T remained on three points, the same as Korea DPR which blanked 3-0 in the first match at Marabella to set up a winner-take-all between both teams on Sunday from 6 pm at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva.
Women's U-17 World Cup Results
Group A
Venue: Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella
Korea DPR 3 (Kim Kum Jong 44, 72, Pong Song Hwa 85 pen) Chile 0
T&T 1 (Liana Hinds 36) vs Nigeria 2 (Francisca Ordega 28, Loveth Ayila 86)
Group B
Venue: Dwight Yorke Stadium, Bacolet
Germany 10 (Lena Lotzen 12, Kyra Malinowski 19, 29, 36, 57, Melania Leupolz 24, 25, Lena Petermann 35, 37, Jermaine Seoposenwe 45 o.g) vs South Africa 1 (Jermaine Seoposenwe 31)
Korea Republic 4 (Kim Nari 27, Yeo Min Ji 40, Kim Dahye 76, Lee Yoo Na 90) vs Mexico 1 (Fernanda Pina 37)
Today's Matches
Group C
Ato Boldon Stadium
New Zealand vs Spain, 4 pm
Japan Republic vs Venezuela, 7 pm
Group D
Larry Gomes Stadium
Republic of Ireland vs Canada, 4 pm
Ghana vs Brazil, 7 pm
