By Harry Awurumibe, No.1 Women’s Football Journalist
Eyes on the Ball. ..Falconets forward, Joy Jerry goes past Central African Republic (CAR) in the first leg of the Second Round tie in Cameroon. Nigeria eliminated CAR 11-0 aggregate score.
With Cameron already through to the next round of the race for a ticket for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Costa Rica 2022, Nigeria’s Falconets will face their bitter rivals in the fourth round should they finally eliminate Congo in a fortnight just as Nigeria holds a 4-0 first leg advantage.
Also, Nigeria will face the winners of Morocco/Gambia versus Senegal/ Guinea matches in the fifth round which will produce the two qualifiers to represent Africa in the global junior women’s football fiesta in Costa Rica in the summer of 2022.
A close look at the fixture released by the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) after the draw was made in Cairo, Egypt before the start of the African qualifiers showed that Nigeria has avoided two other continental rivals in South Africa and West African neighbours, Ghana in the race to pick one of the two tickets for African representatives in Costa Rica.
Consequently, Ghana Black Princesses will have to worry about the South Africa’s U-20 girls if both countries survive the third round even as Ghanaians held their hosts Zambia to a goalless draw in the first leg while South Africa lost by a lone goal to Uganda last weekend.
Should Ghana or South Africa make it to the fifth round, the next opponent will be either the winner of Tanzania/Burundi tie or Ethiopia/Botswana match.
However, the eighth winners of the third round matches, will have two more rounds of four matches each before they can pick one of the two tickets to represent Africa in Costa Rica.
Cameroon line-up
The Two-time FIFA U-20 World Cup Silver medallists, Nigeria defeated Congo in the first leg match in Brazaville on Sunday with goals by Mercy Idoko (38′), Flourish Sebastine (47′), Esther Onyenezide (50′ Pen.) and Deborah Ajibola (55′) condemned Congo to a 4-0 home defeat.
The Falconets have been in excellent run of good performances in the race for a ticket to the FIFA Women’s World Cup ‘Costa Rica 2022’ as they had eliminated their second round foes Central African Republic (CAR) on 11-0 goals aggregate score.
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