Costa Rica 2022: Falconets, Young Lionesses Battle for final qualifying ticket in Abuja

By Harry Awurumibe, Editor-in-Chief, Abuja

It promises to be a tense match as  Nigeria U-20 women’s football team, Falconets and Young Lionesses of Cameroon clash in the second leg of their fourth round fixture in the race for this year’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup finals in Costa Rica.

The crucial match  is slated for the refurbished Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Saturday, February 5, 2022 and kick-off time is 4 pm local time.

Both teams laboured to a barren draw in a tough and gritty first leg encounter at the Stade Reunification in Douala on Saturday, January 22 even as the Nigerian delegation to Cameroon had complained of unfriendly attitude of the host.

However, there will be no hiding place for both Falconets and their opponents as a winner must emerge to face one last hurdle before picking the ticket for Costa Rica 2022 final.

Already the Cameroonian team which is populated by the graduates of the country’s 2018 U-17 set which eliminated Nigeria’s U-17 team Flamingos from the race to last FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Uruguay, are set for a tough game on Saturday.

Some of the remnants of that  Cameroon U-17 squad who are in the present team in Abuja include agile goalkeeper, Michaely Bihina and prolific forwards, Brenda Tabe, Lamine Mana and Diane Tchanko. They helped their team to record an emphatic 9-0 goals  aggregate qualification over the Democratic Republic of Congo to reach the third phase.

Prompt News reports that the Cameroonians who trained inside the mainbowl pitch of Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Friday evening look sharp and organised.

The team comprising of 20 out-field players, three goalkeepers, technical and backroom staff trained for over one hour on the match venue in accordance with Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) rule and regulations.

Although the Leader of Delegation refused to give out his name nor grant press interview, the performance of the players in the training which include penalty kicks showed that the Falconets will have their hands full when both teams meet on Saturday in Abuja.

But the Young Lionesses will need more than creativity, superb accuracy and luck against the Nigerian side ranked as Africa’s most successful  U-20 women’s football outfit

The team handled by Head Coach Christopher  Danjuma Musa, have participated in all 9 previous editions of the FIFA U-20 competition since its inception in 2002 in Canada as an U-19 girls  tournament with

the Falconets winning Silver medals in 2010 in Germany and 2014 in Canada after finishing as runners up to Germany in both editions as well as reached the semifinals in 2012.

Luckily, Nigeria can boast of youngsters like sensational winger Esther Onyenezide and prolific scorers, Mercy Idoko and Flourish Sebastine who have also been ruthless in the current qualifiers, having swept aside the Central African Republic 11-0 aggregate, including a 7 nil trashing CAR at the Japoma Stadium in Douala in September in the second round of the African qualifier series.

Coach Danjuma has assured that: “We have no choice but to go all out for goals. The Cameroonian team is a strong one but we have worked hard since returning from the first leg in Douala and I believe my girls will get the job done.”

Indeed, Nigerians especially football lovers will not accept anything shot of victory over Cameroon in Saturday’s encounter which  will be the first international match at the Moshood  Abiola National Stadium, Abuja  since the venue hosted a 2016 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (AWCON) qualifying match between the Super Falcons and the senior women’s football team of Senegal in April 2016.

It will also be the first of a number of crucial matches for Nigeria at the venue in the next few months, including the first leg of the 2022  AWCON final qualifying fixture between the Super Falcons and the La Elephantes of Cote d’Ivoire and the return leg of the 2022 FIFA World Cup play-off round between the Super Eagles and the Black Stars of Ghana.

Elsewhere, Senegal will square up with Morocco in another top of the card fixture after their first leg match ended 1-1 at Stade Moulay Hassan in Rabat with goals from Senegal’s Hamare Diallo19′ and Morocco’s Amina Bouftini 41′.

Also, Tanzania  with first leg advantage travels to Ethiopia for the return leg tie while Ghana which defeated Uganda 2-1 away will consolidate at Cape Coast Stadium, Cape Coast, Ghana.

Full fixtures of the return leg tie:

*4 February 2022*

Ethiopia 2 v 1 Tanzania

Abebe Bikila, Addis-Abeba

*5 February 2022*

* Ghana v Uganda

Cape Coast Stadium, Cape Coast

*5 February 2022*

Senegal v Morocco

*5 February 2022*

Nigeria v Cameroon

MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja

Three teams from CAF will qualify for the 2022 FIFA U- 20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica.