Ethiopia, Tanzania, Ghana and Guinea earned their places in the third round of the exciting qualifying race for the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, India 2022 after securing favourable outcomes on Sunday.
Prior to the second leg ties, Ethiopia forced a 2-2 first leg draw in Uganda just as Guinea settled for the same scoreline in Liberia, while Tanzania thrashed Botswana 7-0 and Ghana narrowly pipped Senegal 1-0 two weeks ago.
On return from the recess, the Ethiopians came alive as they pushed for an equaliser but couldn’t break the visitors’ defence until Eyerusalem Wondemu struck two minutes from full time to make it a 1-1 draw.
With score 3-3 on aggregate, the Ethiopians progressed into the third round on away goals rule at the expense of Uganda and will now slug it out with South Africa in the next phase in April.
At the Obed Itani Chilume Stadium, Botswana failed to bounce back from their unfortunate first leg humiliation as they crumbled 4-0 at home against Tanzania in Francistown.
The visitors continued on a high from where they left off in the first leg as Neema Paul gave them the first half lead in the 32nd minute.
After the break, Clara Luvanga doubled the lead in the 64th minute before netting her second of the match four minutes later and completed her treble seven minutes from time.
After an 11-0 win on aggregate, Tanzania completed a double over Botswana and set up a third round date with CECAFA rivals Burundi.
After a drab first half, Aoyem broke the deadlock four minutes into the second half before Owusu doubled the lead in the 58th minute and Karima’s 73rd minute strike ended the Senegalese’s qualification journey.
A 4-0 win on aggregate means Ghana are through to the third round, where they will face off with fellow West Africans Guinea, who eliminated Liberia.
In Conakry, Guinea leveraged on their two away goals and home ground advantage as they hammered Liberia 7-1 at the General Lansana Conte Stadium.
With a 2-2 first leg result, Salematou Diop got the hosts off to a flying start as early as the fourth minute before Fatoumata Samoura made it 2-0 two minutes later.
The Liberians, however managed to launch a fightback and they found a breakthrough when Jessica Quachie pulled one back to keep their qualification hopes alive in the 32nd minute.
Two minutes from the half time break, Samoura netted her brace to restore the hosts’ two-goal lead going into the tunnel.
On resumption, the Guineans maintained their pouring attacks and put the contest beyond the hard-fighting visitors, adding four more through Fanta Sidibe, Mamam Sata Fancinadouno and Makoto Camara.
A convincing 9-3 win on aggregate confirmed the progression of Guinea to the next round where they will lock horns with Ghana next month.
Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea and Tanzania joined Cameroon, Zambia, Burundi, South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt Niger and Morocco to complete the 12-team stage.
Source: CAF
Frederick Marfo is a sportswriter and social worker well known for his advocacy for equal chances and rights for all athletes, especially those with disabilities.
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