Nigeria to challenge South Africa for U20 Women’s World Cup ticket

The U-20 Women National Team, Falconets, are up against familiar foes, Basetsana of South Africa, in the African final qualifying round for the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup finals.

Nigeria, runner-up at the last edition, earned passage into the final qualifying round on Saturday after a 2-0 defeat of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Abuja, for a 4-1 aggregate win.

On their part, South Africa’s Basetsana had a close call as they managed to edge the Zambia U-20 girls 3-2 in the return leg in South Africa, following a 0-0 draw by both teams in Zambia.

Forward Linda Motlhalo scored twice and Mosili Makhoali got the other goal for Basetsana at the Makhulong Stadium in Tembisa.

Nigeria will host the first leg at the National Stadium, Abuja on October 24, with the return leg in Johannesburg two weeks later. The winner qualifies for the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, to be staged in Papua New Guinea.

Africa’s second representative will emerge from the other end of the qualifying table, with Ghana and Ethiopia looking good to make the final round.

The Black Princesses won 1-0 away to Equatorial Guinea before Sunday’s return leg in Kumasi, and Ethiopia won 2-0 away to Burkina Faso ahead of their return leg in Addis Ababa next weekend after political tension in the West African nation delayed their fixture.