By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
Reigning FIFA U-17 Bronze medallists, Flamingos of Nigeria have another 90 minutes to redeem themselves when they host the young Stallions of Burkina Faso in the second leg match of the third round of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers slated for Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja today.
Both teams shared the spoils when they met last Saturday at Stade du 26 Mars, Bamako in Mali as forward Chidi Harmony’s 55 minute strike was cancelled by Burkina Faso’s Rainata Oubda in the 85 minute to ensure the tie remained delicately poised at 1-1.
A lot of reasons including complacency have been attributed to Flamingos’s unexpected draw with the Burkinabes in Mali but the coach Olowookere Bankole-led team has a second chance to make amends by outscoring their opponents in Abuja today as anything less than that will spell doom for the hosts.
The Flamingos are expected to be on the offensive from the first blast of the whistle if they want to get something out of the match because the Burkinabes will come with a game plan to curtail the early forays of their more talented opponents.
But it will be the biggest upset in African continent should Burkina Faso edge out Nigeria in this round of the qualifiers with the pedigree of the country in Africa and world football hence the team handlers should put their thinking caps to ensure that the Flamingos beats their opponents even by an odd goal to qualify for the final round where they will meet the winner of the two-legged encounter between Senegal and Liberia.
Interestingly, Senegal with a 3-1 win in the first leg tie in Thiès have the quality to get over the line when they face Liberia at Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex in Monrovia on Sunday
Elsewhere, Kenya will host Ethiopia at Nyayo National Stadium, Nairobi tomorrow and it will be an open game as the first leg last week at Abebe Bikila Stadium in Addis Ababa ended in a barren draw.
Meanwhile, free-scoring Burundi, Morocco and Zambia have already qualified for the final round of the qualifiers with the Burundians making goalscoring look like a past time by hammering hapless Djibouti 7-0 in the return leg to qualify for 4th round on 25-0 aggregate.
Last week in the first leg tie also played at Abebe Bikila Stadium in Addis Ababa, ruthless Burundians ran goals riot by walloping Djibouti 18-0 with attackers Esperence Habonima and Roy Nzoyikorera scoring 13 goals between themselves in an utterly dominant display.
Habonima etched her name into the record books of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) with a remarkable seven-goal haul, hitting the target in the 7th, 52nd, 57th, 66th, 70th, 82nd and 86th minutes.
Her strike partner Nzoyikorera also was not to be outdone, however, bagging a six-goal blitz after opening the scoring with just 55 seconds on the clock and added further strikes in the 11th, 34th, 45th, 48th and 72nd minutes as Burundi ran rampant.
Also qualified for the last round are Morocco and Zambia with Morocco thrashing fellow North Africans Algeria 4-0 each in both legs to qualify on 8-0 aggregate while Zambia edged Uganda to go through to the final round.
Zambia beat Uganda 2-0 courtesy of goals from Namute Chileshe (2′) and Mukoma (70′) at Nkoloma Stadium, Lusaka last week and also defeated Uganda 1-0, thanks for Kabene’s 73′ goal at St. Mary’s Stadium-Kitende, Entebbe yesterday.
Three countries to represent Africa for the U-17 Women’s World Cup will be known at the end of the fourth and final round of qualifiers next month. READ ALSO:
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The 2024 U-17 Women’s World Cup is scheduled to be played in in the Dominican Republic fromOctober 16 to November 3 later this year.
