Brazil U-17 women’s head coach Rilany Silva said avoidable mistakes were responsible for her team’s 3-1 loss to Nigeria’s Flamingos in the semi-finals of the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Rabat on Wednesday.
Brazil were unable to match Nigeria’s physical strength and technical quality as the Flamingos produced a dominant second-half display to secure their place in the final.
The match remained goalless at half-time, but Nigeria took control after the break. Queen Joseph opened the scoring before Awawu Bashiru added two further goals to complete the victory. Greise Kelly scored a late consolation for Brazil.
Rilany said Brazil had been punished for errors in possession, particularly when attempting straightforward passes against an opponent with greater physical power.
“Just like against Ghana, when you make technical mistakes against teams that are more physical than those we are used to facing, you will pay for that. Against Ghana, we made a lot of mistakes in simple passes, and that happened again today,” Rilany told FIFA.
The Brazil coach said those mistakes prevented her team from exploiting the spaces available on the pitch and left them vulnerable when possession changed hands.
“We suffered because of it. These are teams that defend and attack with two blocks and offer a lot of space inside the pitch. But we couldn’t take advantage of that because of these errors. We suffered a lot from the transitions and counter-attacks.”
Brazil will now play North Korea in the third-place play-off on Saturday, with Rilany’s side aiming to finish their World Cup campaign with a victory.
Nigeria’s win secured the Flamingos’ place in the final of the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.