Benin U-17 women's national team head coach Idah Azonsou remains confident her side can overturn a first-leg deficit against Nigeria's Flamingos and qualify for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, Nigeriasoccernet.com reports.
The Young Amazons suffered a narrow 3-2 defeat to Nigeria in the first leg of the final qualifying round in Ikenne last weekend but will have another opportunity to book a historic World Cup ticket when they host the return leg at the Stade de Kégué in Lomé, Togo, on Saturday.
Despite facing one of Africa's strongest youth teams, Azonsou believes her players have what it takes to rewrite history and secure Benin's maiden appearance at the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.
"We're drawing on our previous experiences to prepare for the future. Some of these players experienced last season's elimination against Zambia, and they want to write a different story this time," Azonsou told BENIN TV (SRTB).
"We're placing special emphasis on the opening stages of the game. We want to control the early minutes, dictate the tempo and avoid the mistakes that have cost us in the past."
"We know Nigeria is one of the powerhouses of women's football, so it will be a very difficult match. But we also want to qualify for our first-ever FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup."
The Benin coach also reflected on her team's display in the first leg, admitting they failed to capitalise after making a bright start.
"It was a mixed performance. We believed we could have done better. After taking the lead, our aim was to surprise Nigeria early, and we managed to do that. However, we didn't manage the rest of the game well enough," she said.
"Nigeria dominated possession, and we conceded goals that could have been avoided. Naturally, that left us disappointed."
"On the positive side, scoring two goals against Nigeria is a significant achievement. It gives us plenty of hope going into the second leg. We now know the areas we need to improve if we are to compete better in the return match."