Nigeria’s cadet female national team, Flamingos’ goalkeeper, Jane Bubemi Ijirigho on Thursday justified her rating as the tallest player at the ongoing FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco, as she stood strong to help Nigeria romp into to the quarter-finals.
Sports247 reports that Ijirigho was at her best shot stopping top form once again in the round of 16 fixture, pulling off a number of notable saves that helped the Flamingos snatch a historic 2-1 victory in the coastal city of Salé.
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The Nasarawa Amazons FC of Lafia goalkeeper, who shot to limelight in Lagos State’s team to the 2024 National Youth Games, needed every inch of her 1.92m frame to help Nigeria advance to the quarter-finals with her huge saves against the Mexicans.
At one point, Ijirigho stood against Mexico’s captain, Citlalli Reyes, who is known to be a predatory scorer from the edge of the box, and looked set to add her third goal of the tournament just six minutes into the game, but Nigeria’s No1 got down low to foil the incursion.
Ijirigho declared gleefully afterwards, “I was very happy to make the save. The team did very well. Honestly, I’m very proud of them. We came out with a great team spirit and we know we have the quality.”
The cupid-faced shot-stopper, who later tipped a long-range effort from Kemberly Garcia onto the bar, also got sweet words from Nigeria’s coach, Akeem Busari, who earlier praised her for helping to preserve victory over Puerto Rico in their second group match and was again delighted with her on Thursday.
“She’s awesome. She has been fantastic in every tournament. She has a great mentality and she really wants to do her bit. She’s enjoying doing her best for Nigeria,” Busari affirmed.
