Tanzanite inch closer to WC qualification
DAR ES SALAAM: TANZANIA will now face Nigeria in the third round of the 2024 African Under-20 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifiers, whose winner will book a slot into the fourth and final round of the qualifiers.
The country’s envoys – Tanzanite Queens – advanced to the third round following a massive 12-0 aggregate triumph over Djibouti after stamping convincing results in both legs.
In the first leg at Azam Complex in Dar es Salaam, Tanzanite cherished a 5-0 win while in the reverse clash played at the same venue on Wednesday, they emerged 7-0 victors enough to steer them to the next phase.
During Wednesday’s match, six goals were converted in the first half; courtesy of a brace from Jamila Rajabu and Winfrida Gerald while Diana Mnali and Zainabu Mohamed contributed one goal each.
In the second half, Yasitha Mitoga finished off the business by converting late in the 89th minute, her second goal in two back-to-back games against Djibouti.
Jamila has since scored four goals in two consecutive matches for Tanzanite, as she also sealed a brace in the first-leg duel.
For Djibouti, it was another bad day at the office, as everything they tried to do went against them, thereby missing out an opportunity to make it through to the third round of the contest.
Tanzanite Queens are searching for the opportunity to reach the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup finals set to be played in Colombia next year.
The finals are slated to commence from August 31st to September 22nd, when the new World Cup champions will be crowned.
Currently, Spain is the defending champion who clinched the title last year in Costa Rica and will be curious to defend it for the second time in a row.
However, Tanzania already has an attractive record at the Women’s World Cup stage after deploying Serengeti Girls in the Under-17 FIFA Women’s World Cup finals held in India last year.
The country’s envoys reached the quarterfinals and were too close to step into the semifinals but they suffered a 3-0 loss from Colombia.
They managed to beat France 2-1 before rocking horns with Canada (1-1) to claim four points and then went down 4-0 to Japan and 3-0 to Colombia respectively.
As such, this should be used as an encouragement by their sisters (Tanzanite) to make another breakthrough by qualifying for the Under-20 Women’s World Cup contest which if fulfilled will be an incredible experience for the country’s women’s football.
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————Mukera Mwamba/Winfrida—————
