Costa Rica 2022: Nigeria, Ghana advance to next round as Namibia, 13 others know fate today

By Harry Awurumibe, Africa’s No.1 Women’s Football Journalist

Nigeria’s junior women’s football team, the Falconets have joined Ghana’s U-20 women’s team, Black Maidens in booking their tickets to the next round of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, Costa Rica 2022 African qualifiers.

The Falconets thrashed Central African Republic (CAR) 4-0 in the return leg match played on Wednesday at Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan, Lagos to qualify for the next round on 11-0 goals aggregate after they also walloped hapless CAR 7-0 in the first leg in Douala, Cameroon a week ago.

Earlier, Ghana’s Black Maidens have qualified to the next round without kicking the ball after Ghana versus Mauritania matches were cancelled because of Mauritania’s withdrawal from the on-going African qualifiers.

Expectedly, 14 other countries still in the race for Africa’s two tickets for Costa Rica 2022 final will be in actions during the week to fight for their places in the next round as the return leg matches started on Wednesday with Nigeria versus CAR match in Lagos.

According to the Match Schedule released by the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF), the Return Leg ties will hold from October 7-9,

2021. Below are the fixtures:

07.10.2021

Lagos : Nigeria 4 vs 0 Central African Rpublic (15h00)

Johannesburg (South Africa) : Namibia vs. Burundi (14h00)

08.10.2021

Thies : Senegal vs. Mali (17h00)

Johannesburg: South Africa vs. Mozambique (13h00)

Kampala: Uganda vs. Kenya (13h00)

09.10.2021

Dar es Salaam : Tanzania vs. Eritrea (12h00)

Bahir Dar : Ethiopia vs. Rwanda (13h00)

Yaoundé : Cameroon vs. DR Congo (14h30)

Lilongwe : Malawi vs. Zambia (13h00)

Francistown : Botswana vs. Angola (14h00)

Brazzaville : Congo vs. Egypt (14h30)

Makeni City : Sierra Leone vs. Guinea (16h00)

Bissau : Guinea-Bissau vs. Gabon (16h30)

Rabat : Maroc vs. Benin (16h00)

Cotonou (Benin) : Burkina Faso vs. Gambia (16h00)

*First Leg Results at a Glance**

-CAR 0-7 Nigeria

-Mozambique 0-1 South Africa

-Rwanda 0-4 Ethiopia

-Zambia 6-0 Malawi

-Gambia 0-1 Burkina Faso

-Kenya 2-7 Uganda

-Eritrea 0-3 Tanzania

-Burundi 3-0 Namibia

-DR Congo 0 -4 Cameroon

-Angola 1-4 Botswana

-Guinea 0-1 Sierra Leone

-Mali 2-4 Senegal

-Benin 1-2 Morocco

-Egypt 1-1 Congo

*Qualified**:

* Ghana

* Nigeria