Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon confirmed their superiority with convincing wins in the First Round first leg matches of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup France 2018 qualifiers over the weekend.
Cameroon were the biggest winners thanks to a 9-0 drubbing of Guinea away in Conakry on Saturday whilst Nigeria made light work of Tanzania with a 3-0 win in Benin City.
Earlier on Friday, Ghana’s Black Princesses proved too strong for host Algeria, handing them a 5-0 beating in Algiers.
The results put the trio in a good stead as far as places at the penultimate round of the African qualifiers are concerned.
Right from the kick off, Nigeria’s Falconets went in search of the goals but for some poor marksmanship by Mary Ime and Rasheedat Ajibade in the opening minutes.
The West Africans went into the break with a goal up courtesy Lilian Tule, who struck a superb free-kick past Tanzania goalie Gelwa Yonah on 22 minutes.
At the restart, Nigeria coach Christopher Danjuma brought on Charity Reuben for Ime and the substitution turned things around for his side as the new entrant struck good partnership with Ajibade.
Gelwa, undoubtedly the star performer for the Tanzanites, produced some fine saves to deny Nigeria more goals as the game drag on. But Ajibade was unstoppable in the 57th minute as she waltzed her way through the Tanzanian defence before slotting the ball beyond Gelwa for Nigeria’s second.
Ajibade completed her brace four minutes past the hour mark to seal victory.
In Conakry, ‘Les Lionnes’ were simply unstoppable proving too strong for their Guinean hosts. A goal each from Claudia Dabda (12th), Soline Djoubi (28th), Colette Ndzana (29th) and Alexandra Takounda (45th) gave Cameroon a 4-0 lead at half time.
A brace each from forward Marie Ngah and defender Dolores Tsadia and one from substitute Alice Kameni almost but secured Les Lionnes a place at the next round.
Ghana’s fifth successive appearance at the biennial global championship received a huge boost courtesy Olivia Anokye’s brace and others from Grace Asantewaa, Sandra Owusu-Ansah and Helena Obeng sunk the Algerians at their backyard.
Elsewhere in Sale, Rania Al Salmi and Sana Massoudi scored in either half powered Morocco to a 2-0 win over Senegal.
The second leg matches will take place in a fortnight with the winners progressing to the penultimate round.
Two teams will emerge from the African qualifiers to represent the continent at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup scheduled for 5-24 August 2018 in France.
Fixtures
15.09.2017 Algiers Algeria 0-5 Ghana
16.09.2017 Conakry Guinea 0-9 Cameroon
16.09.2017 Benin City Nigeria 3-0 Tanzania
16.09.2017 Sale Morocco 2-0 Senegal
17.09.2017 Johannesburg South Africa vs Namibia
17.09.2017 Hawassa Ethiopia vs Kenya
Burundi vs Rwanda*
*Tunisia vs Sierra Leone