U17 EURO: Arsenal midfielder Junaid emulates former Young Lionesses forward Ashleigh Plumptre

Arsenal's box-to-box midfielder Omotara Junaid played her first-ever game at the European U17 Championship as England beat Norway 3-0 in their opening match of the tournament at Lund’s Klostergårdens on Sunday afternoon, allnigeriasoccer.com reports.

By featuring in the U17 EURO, Junaid has followed in the footsteps of another dual-national player eligible for Nigeria, Ashleigh Plumptre who represented the Young Lionesses at the 2015 edition of the tournament. 

Plumptre, who was then a forward for England's youth team, was on target in a 3-1 win against Iceland in the group stage 

Junaid was not the only Nigeria-eligible player that helped England U17s register an impressive win over the Scandinavians as Jane Oboavwoduo came of the bench in the 30th minute for her first competitive appearance for the Young Lionesses. 

And in doing so, the Manchester City forward became provisionally cap-tied to her other nation. 

England had a bright start to the game, quickly scoring two goals through Erica Parkinson and Laila Habert inside twelve minutes. 

After Lola Brown found the net two minutes into the second half to increase the Young Lionesses lead, Junaid came close to finding the net on the hour mark but the Norwegian goalkeeper tipped her low shot away. 

Before she became provisionally cap-tied to England, Falconets manager Christopher Danjuma was considering including her in his squad list for the 2024 Fifa U20 Women's World Cup. 

England's next game in Group A of the U17 EURO is against Sweden on Wednesday before they conclude group play against France on Saturday. 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Copyright ANS
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from allnigeriasoccer.com