TANZANIA came from behind to beat Uganda 2-1 in the first leg of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers in a tense match at the National Stadium, Dar es Salaam yesterday.
Striker Fauzia Najjemba put the Ugandans upfront early in the first half before Tanzania came back scoring two goals through Aisha Masaka to seal crucial home victory.
Uganda looked a very cautious side right from the start, but Tanzanian youth dominated the game, pressing high and created several chances which kept Uganda defense on their toes.
It was a good tactical game for both teams. It has been a good experience for my team, coming from behind to win. It is the second time that we’ve managed to win after going down.
We played well and dominated the possession. We had to change tactics later to adopt with the momentum of the game and luckily we won.
A brace by Aisha Masaka gave the national Under-17 women team a 2-1 home victory over Uganda in the first leg of the U-17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers.
It was the visitors who took the lead in the 13th minute of the first half of the match courtesy of Fauzia Najjemba whose long range missile went straight into the back of the net.
However, that never scared the hosts as they regained composure and responded well with an equalizer in the 29th minute when a personal brilliance of Aisha Masaka saw her leveling the deficit to put her side back into the contest.
An interesting pattern for the home team was seen between Masaka and her striking partner Christer Bahera with the latter hitting the post in the 36 th minute in what likely seemed to be the second goal for Tanzania.
Again, Protasia Mbunda missed a potential chance in the 40th minute to the relief of the visitors.
The teams went to the breather of the young women match after each side making several attempts towards each other’s goal in a bid to add the tally, but neither of them did that the end of the first half.
Both CECAFA representatives, Uganda and Tanzania sailed through into the preliminary stage of the 2020 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers with victories over Ethiopia and Burundi respectively.
Juliet Nalukenge netted a brace to ensure Uganda eliminate Ethiopia 3-1 in the return leg at the Bahir Dar stadium.
Margret Kunihira scored the other goal for Uganda, while Argash Kalsa converted a penalty for the home side. While Uganda qualified on a 5-1 goal aggregate, Tanzania picked a 1-0 win away to Burundi to qualify 6 -1 on aggregate. Pritasa Mbunda scored the lone goal for Tanzania.
Another CECAFA envoys Djibouti failed to progress after bowing out on 14-0 aggregate to Morocco.
The best six teams in the first round will qualify for the next stage of the qualifies which will see the best three make it to the 2020 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The teams in the first round includes; Uganda, Tanzania, Z ambia, South Africa, Botswana, Morocco, Sao Tome & Principe, Cameroon, L iberia, Ghana, Guinea and Nigeria.
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.
