By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
It is now official as Nigeria’s Falconets will meet the Junior Terenga Lionesses of Senegal next month to decide which of the two teams will grab one of the two tickets to represent Africa in this year’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica.
Nigeria dumped out Cameroon after a 3-0 thrashing of the visitors in the return leg of the fourth round tie on Saturday at the refurbished Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja to qualify for the final round on 3-0 goals aggregate score.
On their part, Senegal beat Morocco 5-4 via penalty shootout after both countries tied at 2-2 after first and second leg matches in Rabat and Dakar respectively.
Elsewhere, Black Princesses of walloped hapless Uganda 5-0 at Cape Coast Stadium, Cape Coast to qualify for the next round on 7-1 goals aggregate having won the first leg away by 2-1.
Ghana will now meet Ethiopia which qualified on
2-1 aggregate after 2-0 defeat of Tanzania in the return leg on Friday. Ethiopia had lost 1-0 away from home.
Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Ethiopia are now just one match away from reaching the FIFA U-20 World Cup Costa Rica 2022 after triumphing in the fourth round of African qualifying series concluded Saturday.
Meanwhile, FIFA has fixed the dates for the fifth and final round for next month just as the first leg of the knockout ties played over two legs will take place between March 10 and 12, with the second leg following a fortnight later.
The two winners of the final round matches will pick two FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup spots on offer.
Nigeria’s Falconets are aiming to maintain their perfect record of having qualified for every FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup to date, while Ghana are also regulars, having reached each of the last five.
Ethiopia and Senegal, on the other hand, are targeting their first-ever appearance at this global showpiece.
Fourth round results:
Ethiopia 2–0 (2-1 agg) Tanzania;
Ghana 5–0 (7-1 agg) Uganda;
Senegal 1-1 (2-2 agg, 5-4 PSO) Morocco and
Nigeria 3-0 (3-0 agg) Cameroon.
Costa Rica Final Round Fixtures:
March 10-12, 2022
Ethiopia v Ghana
March 24-26, 2022
Ghana v Ethiopia
March 10-12, 2022
Senegal v Nigeria
March 24-26, 2022
Nigeria v Senegal
