Good start for Tanzania, Uganda in 2020 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers

CECAFA representatives  Tanzania and Uganda made winning starts in the qualifiers for the 2020 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup last weekend. Aisha Masaka netted a hat-trick, while Joyce Meshack and Protasia Mbunda scored a goal each when Tanzania humbled Burundi 5-1 in Dar es Salaam. Lydia Karenzo scored Burundi’s goal in the first leg of the preliminary round.

In Kampala the CECAFA U-17 Women’s Challenge Cup winners Uganda defeated Ethiopia 2-0.

A goal in each half from by team captain Juliet Nalukenge and second half substitute Catherine Nagaddya were enough to see Uganda win at the Star Times Stadium, Lugogo.

“We are happy to start the campaign with a win. We need to keep working hard to be able to win away in Addis Ababa to qualify for the next round,” said Uganda’s coach Ayub Khalifa Kiyingi.

Ethiopia’s coach Samuel Ewunetu Gebrekirstos said although they lost the first leg, they still have a chance in the home game to score even more than three goals and qualify for the next stage.

In the other matches Djibouti suffered a 7-0 away loss to Morocco. Liberia also picked a 4-0 home win against Niger, while Guinea brushed aside Guinea Bissau 5-0.

The other teams in the CECAFA region that did not enter the qualifiers include; Somalia, Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan and Rwanda.

The winners of the preliminary round will qualify for the first round before making it to the final round where three teams are expected to qualify to fill the three slots for Africa.

The 2020 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup will be the 7th edition of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. The tournament will be held in India between November 2-21 and Africa will be represented by three teams. Spain are the defending champions.