Nigeria’s U17 girls, Flamingos, are firm and ready to pick the ticket for the country’s eighth appearance at the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, despite the predictably-cold atmosphere of the Stade Mustapha Tchaker in Blida (outside Algiers), on Friday night.

Friday’s encounter against their Algerian counterparts is the final leg of a final qualifying round fixture, with the Flamingos, bronze-medallists from the 2022 finals in India and quarter-finalists from the last edition in the Dominican Republic, holding on to a 4-0 first-leg advantage.

The Federation Algerienne de Football (FAF) has scheduled the match to kick off at 8pm, at a time that the winds will begin to blow in stronger from the Mediterranean Sea.

However, the Flamingos, who arrived in Algiers in the early hours of Wednesday aboard a Turkish Airline flight from Istanbul, are highly inspired by the imminence of another FIFA World Cup ticket as well as further financial windfall from the Nigeria Football Federation and billionaire business mogul Kunle Soname.

Soname gifted the young players and their officials the sum of N4million (one million naira for every goal) following their commanding win over the North Africans at the Remo Stars Stadium on Saturday, while the NFF gave out the sum of N2million (five hundred thousand naira for every goal).

President of NFF, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau and Hon. Soname have both confirmed that the same financial incentives are in place for the second leg in Blida on Friday.

“Our objective is clear – to win the FIFA World Cup ticket. That is the big motivation. Yet, we have been further incentivized by the monetary rewards. My girls will go all out on Friday night,” Head Coach Bankole Olowookere said.

Olowookere, who led the Flamingos to their last two World Cup ventures, will most likely rely on first-leg two-goal heroine Queen Joseph, lone-goal scorer Zainab Raji and Kaosarat Olanrewaju to start at the fore, with Shakirat Moshood, Muinat Rotimi and Philomena Isaiah supplying the passes from the midfield. Goalkeeper and captain Christiana Uzoma and defenders Azeezat Oduntan, Hannah Ibrahim, Christiana Sunday and Jumai Adebayo are also likely to start.

The Confederation of African Football has selected Cameroonian official Marie Noelle Etong to be the referee, with her compatriots Marcelle Teikeu and Innocentia Ntangti as assistant referee 1 and fourth official respectively, while Chadian Ngarassoum Victorine will be assistant referee 2.

Oumou Souleymane Kane from Mauritania will be commissioner and Sabelo Maphosa-Sibindi from Zimbabwe will be in the role of referee assessor.

Ruud van Nistelrooy is set to be sacked by Leicester “imminently” after their relegation from the Premier League was confirmed.

That is according to former Man United and Blackburn chief scout Mick Brown, who remains very well-connected within the game, as he exclusively told Football Insider that the writing is on the wall for Van Nistelrooy at the King Power.

Leicester’s defeat to Liverpool, alongside Wolves’ victory against Man United and West Ham’s draw with Southampton, meant the Foxes are now mathematically unable to achieve survival.

This comes after Football Insider revealed on 11 April that Van Nistelrooy is the favourite to be sacked next after failing to turn their season around.

It has been a dismal spell in charge for the manager, who has picked up just two league victories since taking over from Steve Cooper in November.

During that time, his team have scored just 16 goals and conceded 50, including their current run of 11 games without a win.

Brown told Football Insider earlier this month that Van Nistelrooy will be sacked by Leicester and the decision will be made before the end of the season.

Following his appointment as manager, Brown warned Football Insider that Van Nistelrooy would face “major problems” at Leicester, who have now been relegated.

The former scout, who has a wealth of experience working with elite managers including Sir Alex Ferguson and was instrumental in bringing Van Nistelrooy to England in 2001, insisted that Leicester want a new name to lead them in the Championship.

“I know Ruud as a person and hold him in very high regard,” he told Football Insider.

“But it’s a fact of life that if you lose eight or nine games in a row in the Premier League, your job is at risk, whoever you are and wherever you are.

“It would surprise me more if Ruud didn’t leave, at this point, because of their situation.

“Now that they’ve been relegated, the decision will be made imminently and I expect he will be sacked.

“Is he the person who is going to take them back up from the Championship?

“They don’t see that happening with him, so they’re looking at other options.

“There’s a hell of a lot of work for them to do looking at that side.

“They have to ask serious questions about whether the team is good enough, not just the manager, because the Championship is a different kettle of fish.

“It’s relentless, you’ve got to have a good team and a good squad to handle it.

“So I think Ruud will go, because he hasn’t done a good enough job there, but that won’t be the end of the problems for Leicester.”