Serengeti Girls have launched the 2022 FIFA Women’s World Cup finals on backpedal after a 4-0 defeat from Japan in their group D opener at Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in India on Wednesday evening.
It is a negative start for the brave girls who are making their maiden appearance at the world cup stage hence they need to intensify their preparations ahead of their second match against France on Saturday.
The country’s envoys were reduced to 10-players in the 20th minute when Neema Kinega was shown a red card after fouling a Japanese player.
Initially, the referee flashed a yellow card to Neema but swiftly, a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) had to intervene before the ref reversed the first decision and flashed out a red card instead.
This enabled the 2014 FIFA Under 17 women’s world cup champions to dominate the play and cause trouble to Tanzania section who at this moment were defending a lot.
The Red card was a setback to Bakari Shime’s game strategy as he was forced to adjust his side in order to contain attacks staged by Japan.
In an early match in group D, France were held to 1-1 draw by Canada with the two sides sharing spoils at the end of the tense match.
Up next, Serengeti Girls face France on Saturday in their second match of the competition before winding up group D campaign by facing Canada on Tuesday.
The other Africa representatives Morocco suffered a 1-0 defeat from Brazil while Nigeria went down 2-1 to Germany in their group A and B respectively.
