Ethiopia, Burundi lose in World Cup qualifiers

• Ethiopia were beaten 2-0 by Morocco
• Burundi lost 1-0 to Nigeria
• Ghana picked a good win away to Senegal

Ethiopia and Burundi’s dream of making it into the U-20 Women’s World Cup suffered a blip after both sides lost the first leg matches of their final round qualifiers.

Ethiopia were beaten 2-0 away to Morocco while Burundi lost by a solitary goal to Nigeria at home.

In Morocco, a goal in each half was enough to give the hosts advantage in a match played at the Ben M’Hamd El Abdi Stadium in El Jadida on Saturday.

Jassimine Zouhir gave Morocco the lead after 10 minutes, but Ethiopia fought back with Messay Temesgen and Nigist Bekele getting some chances, but failed to put them away. After recess Ambre Basser made it 2-0 for the hosts after 51 minutes.

Firew Hailegebriel, the Ethiopian head coach said hope is not lost yet as they can turn the scores in the return leg on January 21st in Addis Ababa. ” We still have a chance and we must work hard to use the home advantage, ” said the coach.

Ethiopia hope for a turnaround 

Ethiopia qualified for the final round of the qualifiers after seeing off Mali 6-0 on aggregate in the third round of the qualifiers.

Meanwhile, Nigeria have picked up a slight advantage over Burundi, beating them by a solitary goal in the first leg of their final round of qualification played at the Azam Complex in Dar es Salaam.

Nigeria players line up before their match

Seimeyeha Janet Akekoromowei converted a penalty at the stroke of half time against the Burundi team that had been reduced to 10 players in a match to hand Nigeria the precious victory.

Before getting sent-off midway the first half Burundi’s goalkeeper Ariella Umurerwa had saved the first penalty awarded to the Falconets.

In the second half Burundi defended in numbers as they had been reduced by a player. But, they were unlucky to concede from the spot, leaving them with work to do in the second leg.

Captain Peace Olga Niyomwungere said hope is not lost yet as they plan for the return leg on January 20th.

“There is still a chance because we played really well. We need to go back and prepare well and try to get a good results in Nigeria,” the captain offered.

In another qualifier, Ghana’s Black Princesses are one foot into the Under-20 FIFA Women’s World Cup after a well worked 2-0 win away to Senegal in the first leg of their final round qualification duel.

Twum scores twice for Ghana 

Action between Senegal and Ghana

Tracey Twum scored twice in the opening half to give the Ghanaian ladies a precious win away from home and now only need to avoid defeat in next week’s return leg at home to book a spot in the World Cup.

“The game has been good but tough. The Senegalese team was tough. We have bot concluded anything. We might be two goals ahead but we can’t be complacent. Our dream to qualify for Colombis is on and we need to be focused and ensure we complete the job,” coach Yusif Basigi said.

The Black Princesses had an early chance which came in the second minute but Maafia Nyame’s freekick went wide. The early signs of a goal finally provided fruit just after five minutes, Nyame and Wasiima Mohamed combining well before releasing Twum who made no mistake with a well taken goal.

Two minutes later, Tracey Twum increased the tally after her volley hit the underside of the bar before ricocheting into the net, to guive the visitors a 2-0 advantage.

Ghana continued to dominate with Nyame and Helen Alormenu having opportunities but couldn’t make them count.

In the second half, Ghana’s dominance continued and Beline Nyarkoh had a last gasp chance in the 91st minute but her effort went inches above the post as Ghana held on with the 2-0 win.