2024 U17 WWC Qualifiers: Morocco Score 22, Nigeria put 12 past CAR to reach third round
(Made In Africa Sport) – The Nigeria and Morocco U17 women’s teams embark on another FIFA World Cup journey with a strong warning to opponents, as they both thrash their counterparts from the Central African Republic and Niger Republic 12-0 and 22-0 on aggregate, respectively, in the second round of African qualifiers on Friday, 9 February 2024.
Recap
Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja
Nigeria U17 Women
Central African Republic U17 Women
The Flamingos of Nigeria won the first leg of the encounter in Douala 6-0, courtesy of goals from Harmony Chidi, Prisca Nwachukwu, Shakirat Moshood, and Edidiong Etim.
They repeated the same scoreline in Abuja. Chidi added a hat-trick to her first-leg brace and Kesiena Tessy Ojiyovwi and Ramota Kareem joined her on the scoresheet with a goal and brace, respectively.
The win took Nigeria to the third round of qualifying, where they will play against Burkina Faso as they hope to reach the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup finals for the seventh time.
Goal Fest in Berkane
Recap
Stade Municipal de Berkane, Berkane
Morocco U17 Women
Niger U17 Women
After debuting in the India 2022 World Cup, the Morocco women’s U17 team is hoping to return to the global stage, and their journey has been nothing but a rollercoaster after putting 22 unanswered goals past Niger Republic over two legs.
With both games being played at the Stade Municipal de Berkane, Berkane, Morocco, the Atlas Lionesses capitalised on it with a fine showing.
Seven different players registered their names on the scoresheet as they thumped Niger 11-0 in the first leg, with four of the goals coming from Mokhtar Jamaï.
They started the second leg from where they stopped, with Dounia El Yakout El Mesmoudi opening the scoring in the third minute, before adding another two in the 7th and 22nd minutes to complete a first-half hat-trick.
She ended the game scoring four, with Laila Boushaba registering a hat-trick and Romaissa Marie Selene Ihssan, Mokhtar Jamaï, Amira Kallouch, and an own goal from Nadiratou Zakou Djibou completing the rout.
They will face Algeria in the third round after the young Fennecs ladies scraped through against Benin Republic 8-9 in a penalty shoot-out.
Road to Dominican
The first phase of the qualifying series commenced with an annulled fixture involving the Central African Republic and Mauritius. Subsequently, the former secured advancement to the second round by default, following Mauritius’ withdrawal prior to the first leg.
This trend persisted in subsequent fixtures during the second round, as Equatorial Guinea, DR Congo, Libya, and Mali all withdrew, thereby enabling their opponents – Djibouti, Kenya, Senegal, and Liberia, respectively – to progress to the third round unopposed.
The conclusive matches of the second round were completed on Saturday, 10 February 2024, with South Africa, having lost 3-0 in Addis Ababa, playing a goalless draw when they hosted Ethiopia at the Lucas Moripe Stadium, Pretoria, and on Sunday, 11 February 2024, as Tanzania defeated Zambia 1-0 at the Azam Complex Stadium, Dar es Salaam, after losing 5-0 in Lusaka.
The third round will be the penultimate stage of the African qualification, with 12 teams. The first leg of the games will be played from 10 to 12 May 2024, while the second leg will be from 17 to 19 May 2024.
Both legs of the final round are scheduled for June 2024 for the six third-round winners, and the three winners will advance to the World Cup as African representatives.
The 2024 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup finals will be staged in the Dominican Republic from 16 October to 3 November 2024.
THIRD ROUND FIXTURES
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