Stephen Dunmoye

Former Flamingos head coach, Bala Nikyu, has implored the Flamingos to forget the loss to Germany, urging them to be confident so as to bounce back and win against New Zealand.

The Flamingos fell to a 2-1 defeat in their Group B opener to Germany on Tuesday at the ongoing U-17 women’s World Cup in India, despite going into the break 1-0 ahead.

The team will hope to bounce back from the setback when they face New Zealand in their second group game on Friday.

However, New Zealand suffered defeat in their group opener following a 3-1 loss to Chile also on Tuesday.

And reacting to the defeat Nikyu, who led the Flamingos to the 2014 and 2016 U-17 women’s World Cup, urged the current team to have confidence they can bounce back.

“For the German team to equalise and even go ahead to go ahead and win, if care is not taken they may be become jittery,” Nikyu said.

“And the next match they will be calculating if we don’t win our next match what will happen to us which might create fear.”

“But I think the only thing that can save them is to tell themselves they can do it.”