Head Coach of the Female U17 national team, Baba Nuhu, has announced a squad of twenty-two players to embark on the trip to Conakry, Guinea, as the Black Maidens gear up for the third round of the FIFA Women’s U17 World Cup, India 2022, qualifiers.
Baba Nuhu’s side advanced to this stage with a 4-0 aggregate win over West African rivals, Senegal, last month and is hoping to replicate another success story in the third round to brighten its chances of securing a 7th consecutive appearance in the tournament.
The Black Maidens would take on Guinea on Saturday, April 16, 2022 at the Stade Général Lansana Conté de Nongo Conakry, Guinea, with the reverse fixture scheduled for the Cape Coast stadium on April 30 this year.
Ghana has an enviable record at the FIFA Women’s U17 World Cup. The West African nation is the only African representative to have won a medal at the FIFA Women’s U17 World Cup. A 1-0 victory over Germany secured a bronze medal for Ghana in Azerbaijan in 2012. In Uruguay 2018, Ghana’s Mukarama Abdulai became the first African to win the Golden Shoe Award, scoring 7 goals in the competition.
The Black Maidens have participated in all previous 6 editions of the tournament and have managed to reach at least the quarter-finals in their previous four appearances.
Other qualifying matches
After a successful second round of matches played in March, CAF scheduled the third qualifying round for the U-17 Women’s World Cup for the weekends of April 15-17 and April 29-May 1, 2022. Aside the Ghana vs Guinea encounter, five other matches are expected to be played across the continent with the winners on aggregate, progressing to the fourth round.
South Africa is scheduled to take on Ethiopia at the Bidvest Stadium in Johannesburg on Friday, April 15, 2022 at exactly 13:00 hrs GMT. The return leg is slated for May 1, 2022 at the Abebe Bekila Stadium in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Meanwhile, the stage is set for another thrilling encounter at the Nkoloma Stadium in Lusaka on Friday, April 15, 2022 as Zambia takes on Cameroon. The second leg tie will take place at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaoundé on April 30, 2022.
Elsewhere, Burundi will lock horns with Tanzania at the Stade Urukundo in Ngozi on April 16, 2022 with the reverse fixture booked for May 1, 2022 at the Amaan Stadium in Zanzibar City, Tanzania.
The match between Niger and Morocco is also slated for April 16, 2022 at the Stade du Général Senyi Kountche in Niamey with the return leg at the Complexe Sportif Prince Moulay Al Hassan, Rabat, scheduled for April 29, 2022.
On April 17, 2022, Nigeria and Egypt will renew their long standing rivalry when they clash at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja. Both teams are expected to face each other again in the return leg on a yet-to-be announced date.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is expected to present three teams to represent the African continent in the tournament. Aside the host, China PR, Japan, Brazil, Chile, Columbia and New Zealand have booked their tickets to India. Representatives from CAF, CONCACAF, UEFA are expected to be announced after the end of their qualifying rounds to complete the 16 teams that will compete for the trophy later in October.
The 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup will be the 7th edition of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, the biennial international women’s youth football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 2008. The tournament will be hosted by India, which would have hosted the 2020 edition before it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament will take place from Tuesday, October 11 to Sunday, October 30, 2022.
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