Nigeria and Burkina Faso battled to a thrilling 1-1 draw in the first leg of the third-round qualifier for the 2024 U17 Women's World Cup on Saturday, Soccernet.ng reports.
Exciting forward Chidi Harmony opened the scoring for Nigeria ten minutes into the second half, but Rainata Oubda equalised for Burkina Faso late in the encounter to deny Flamingos a precious win.
With the game played at the Stade 26 Mars in Bamako, Mali, as Burkina Faso had no standard facilities to host the encounter, the two teams practically were on away grounds.
Nigeria, fresh from their 12-0 aggregate victory over the Central African Republic in the last round in February, settled in quickly and dictated the pace of the match early on.
However, poor finishing from the Flamingos and some resolute defending ensured the game was goalless at halftime.
The story changed in the 55th minute when Harmony finally broke the deadlock for the Flamingos.
Ten minutes from time, Harmony had another chance to double Nigeria's lead when she dribbled past three defenders inside the box only to fire her effort inches wide.
Burkina Faso made Nigeria pay for that miss five minutes from full time when Rainata Oubda capitalised on a defensive mixup from the Flamingos.
The return leg is scheduled for May 18 at the Abuja National Stadium, with the winner guaranteed a spot in the fourth and final round of the qualifiers.
Whoever triumphs in the clash between Nigeria and Burkina Faso will look horns with the winner of the faceoff between Senegal and Liberia for a chance to participate at Dominican Republic 2024.
