2016-01-22Staff Report 2 Windhoek The Baby Gladiators will play for victory as they host Nigeria in their 2016 FIFA Under-17 Women World Cup first round 2nd leg match today at Sam Nujoma Stadium, but progression will be a miracle. These are the sentiments of Baby Gladiators skipper Sharon Pieters ahead of their return leg match today at 16h00, as they try to overturn a 4-0 deficit to advance to the final group of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) qualifiers. “We have the confidence to win at home and it will be perfect for us to do so in front of our home crowd. We fought very hard in the second half in Nigeria and if we can do that and more here we can get something out. We deserve something for all our efforts. The technical team has worked on our mistakes and we are ready to face them again”, Pieters says. She adds that qualification is at the moment highly unlikely, but in football anything is possible. “Only a miracle can help us to qualify. They (Nigeria) are a great team of players and we need to approach the game with a mindset of trying to do our best. Teams like Nigeria can motivate you and we are motivated to disappoint them”, said the 15-year-old central defender. Nigeria arrived in Windhoek on Wednesday. The outcome of the clash between Baby Gladiators and Nigeria will determine who reaches the final round against either Zambia or South Africa for a place at the 2016 FIFA Under-17 Women World Cup’s in Jordan. Only three countries will represent Africa at the championships. 2016-01-22Staff Report 2
