30th March, 2012
The city of Abeokuta, Ogun State will be agog tomorrow when Nigeria’s Falconets confront Zimbabwe in the first leg of FIFA U-20 Women World Cup qualifier scheduled to hold at the MKO Abiola Stadium.
Both teams clash in the first of the two-legged encounter in Nigeria with the reverse fixture scheduled for a fortnight in Harare.
Zimbabwe qualified for the second round with a 7-0 goals aggregate over new comers, Mozambique. They had won the first leg 4-0, which was played in Harare and completed the rout in the return leg in Maputo with a 3-0 victory.
Meanwhile, Nigeria qualified without kicking a ball following the withdrawal of Sierra Leone in the first round.
The winner of the fixture between Nigeria and Zimbabwe will play the winner of the fixture between Mali and DR Congo for a place at this year’s FIFA U-20 Women World Cup finals in Japan later this year.
Falconets’ Chief Coach, Edwin Okon has assured Nigerians that his team will win tomorrow’s encounter to make the return leg in Zimbabwe a formality.
Having qualified for FIFA U-17 Women World Cup, Okon said Nigeria cannot afford to miss this year’s FIFA U-20 Women World Cup holding in Japan
In other qualifying matches, South Africa will meet Ghana, while Kenya will confront Tunisia.
—Sunday Akintoye