This week we look at the 2020 Olympic Games Qualifiers in Africa (CAF) and in the Caribbean and Central America (CONCACAF) zones as well as review the first leg of the Round of 16 match-ups in UEFA's Women's Champions League.
CAF Olympic Games Qualifiers—Upsets in Round 3
Ghana and Nigeria—two traditional powers in women's football—will not be at the 2020 Olympics in Japan, having been dumped out at the third round by Kenya and Ivory Coast, respectively. Other semifinal qualifiers, which will take place next month, include Zambia, who dispatched Botswana 3-0 on aggregate earlier this month, and Cameroon, who narrowly defeated Congo DR 3-2.
The semifinal legs will take place on November 3 and 11, with Cote d'Ivoire hosting Cameroon in the first leg, and Kenya hosting Zambia.
Of the four teams remaining in the African Football Confederation Olympic Qualifiers, only Cameroon have qualified for a previous Olympics—in 2012 in London—and Cameroon have also qualified for the last two Women's World Cups, while Cote d'Ivoire qualified for Canada 2015. In the second semifinals, Zambia or Kenya could advance to their first senior FIFA international national team event by qualifying for the 2020 Olympic Games Finals. The semifinal winners will make the CAF Final, with only the winner advancing directly to the Olympics, while the second place team would have a continental play-in for a second berth with Chile. Chile qualified as the runners-up in the Copa America Femenina in 2018 to Brazil, as that tournament tripled as the 2019 Women's World Cup qualifiers and for the 2020 Olympic Games as well.
In the Cameroon versus Congo D.R. tie, Cameroon triumphed 2-0 at home in Yaounde in the first leg on October 3 but fell 2-1 away on October 8 in Kinshasa. In the first leg, Meyene Meyong and Ajara Nchout scored in the first half to hand Les Lionnes a first leg cushion ahead of the return five days later in Kinshasa. Meyong broke the deadlock on 28 minutes before Nchout sealed victory two minutes later with another goal. Congolese Isabelle Diakiesse had given her nation a 2-0 lead by half time of the second leg but Ajara Nchout (Valerenga of Norway after playing for the Western New York Flash in the NWSL in 2015 and previously in Russia) scored late in the game to send Les Lionnes into the penultimate round.
Zambia used a brace from Grance Chanda (Zesco United FC) to key the Copper Queens to a 2-0 win in Yaounde in the first leg on October 3 and eventually advanced 3-0 on aggregate over near neighbors Botswana.
Cote d'Ivoire advanced on away goals after their 1-1 second leg win in Nigeria on October 7, after their home leg ended 0-0. In Lagos, it was the visiting Les Elephantes who took an early lead after 12 minutes from a Nina Zote Kpaho free-kick. Kpaho played in the 2015 WWC in Canada as a 19-year-old and is now with Nemen of Belarus—scoring 11 goals in 17 games this season—after playing last year with Minsk of Belarus. Nigerian captain Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona of Spain) replied on 32 minutes to draw the match level. The Nigerians poured forward in the second half but the Ivorian defense held strong and the nine-time African Champion Nigeria Super Falcons were out. The Super Falcons were guided by an interim coach in Chris Danjuma (who had led Nigeria's U-20 national team of late) because former national team coach Thomas Dennerby of Sweden had left the country a few days before with a year left on his contract, citing a lack of support from the federation and breaches of his contact, including unpaid wages. The federation accepted his resignation but denied the allegations from their former coach. Dennerby had brought stability to the squad at the World Cup last summer and the team had left favorable impressions, before bowing out at the Round of 16 stage, where they lost to Germany 3-0 in Grenoble. The reigning African champions Super Falcons have failed to qualify for the last two editions of the quadrennial multi-sports events in 2012 (London) and 2016 (Rio de Janeiro), and will have to wait for another four years to qualify when the event is held in Paris in 2024.Nigeria qualified for the 2000 games in Sydney, 2004 games in Athens and 2008 games in Beijing, making the quarterfinals in 2004.
In the Kenya-Ghana series, the first leg in Ghana also ended 0-0.Kenya head coach David Ouma said before the crucial second game: "They [Ghana] are a good side, very compact and good on the ball. But we now know them and how they play. We know their strengths and weaknesses and we will work to exploit their weak areas. We also need to find a very good balance defensively and offensively because we should also be very careful not to concede [s goal]." Captain and defender Dorcas Shikobe (Oserian in Kenya) seconded her coach, and she felt that the next game could be an historic moment for the side: "We have never qualified for the Olympics and it would be a dream for us if we made it. We have come this far and we need to keep pushing. I believe in the team and I believe if we put 100pc [percent] tomorrow, we will be through."
Kenya triumphed in the second leg at home, 1-0, after extra time. Seventeen-year old substitute Gentrix Shikangwa scored the only goal from the penalty spot for the Harambee Starlets at the Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi. The penalty came nine minutes into the first extra time period after Ghana's Justice Tweneboa (Ampem Darkoa in Ghana) used her hand to block Sheryl Angachi's (Gaspo of Kenya) shot on goal.Shikobe said after the game: "We really fought hard in the game today and I want to thank my teammates for the effort they have given. We are happy to have won the game today because Ghana is not an easy team and victory against them has given us so much confidence."
It is great to see Kenya advance so far in this tournament as they were originally due to play in the 2018 African Championships Finals after Equatorial Guinea was disqualified for having used players who were not registered to play for the nation (not the first time that has happened) including a few with questionable birth/naturalization certificates for the country; they narrowly lost to Equatorial Guinea in the last round of qualifiers 3-2 on aggregate. However, just before the finals CAF reversed itself and included EG, who were dreadful and clearly lacked preparation, while Kenya had been training all along from June to November. Kenya first qualified for the African Women Cup of Nations in Cameroon in 2016 and has been building nicely in the three years since.
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However, things are not perfect in the Kenya camp despite the win over Ghana as the team is still owed match bonuses by their government. Starlets' captain Shikobe beseeched her Federation to support their efforts to make it to Japan; telling Goal.com after the Ghana series: "We have fought for this team since 2015 but the government still owes us money since then. We ask them to help us and give us the same support which they accord the men's team. This will boost our morale and make our up-coming fixtures easy." The men's side received 244,000,000 Kenya Shillings (approximately US$2,000,000) for qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Egypt this summer. For the CAF second and third rounds of the Olympic qualifiers, the team has not received any payments from the Ministry of Sports, which has in place a sports fund for such purposes and ironically, is headed by a woman. Football Kenya Federation (FKF) President Nick Mwendwa praised the team for having reached the fourth round without any government support, telling Goal.com: "The team has not received any support from the government for the last one year, yet they have done very well and we hope they continue with that kind of performance. Until today [Wednesday] they have not received their allowances despite making our request and we are working round the clock to ensure we pay them. I hope the government will see how good they are performing and support them." Prior to the crucial second leg match against Ghana, Principal Secretary in the Sports Ministry Peter Kaberia said they had received a request from the team but did not commit himself on whether they will be supported.
One of the Kenyan national team players is a second generation women's player. Harambee Starlets midfielder Corazone Aquino is carrying on in her mother's footsteps on the field. Aquino's mother, Celestine Ongere, was one of the founding members of the Kenya Women's Premier League (WPL) side Makolanders FC and her national team aspirations was stalled when her father refused her permission to travel out of the country for a game. Aquino told CAF Online: "She always tells me that she wants me to play at the highest level because she had always wished that for herself but could not get it. Every time I go to the field, I always go in to do my best and do it for my mother." Aquino was first capped when she was 18 in the 1-1 draw in Nairobi that earned the side their first CAF Women's Africa Cup of Nations (AWCON) in Cameroon in 2016.
She now plays at Gaspo Youth in the WPL where she has scored six goals so far this season for the current league leaders and she previously played at MASA, Soccer Queens and Vihiga Queens; with Queens she won back-to-back league titles in 2017 and 2018 before moving to Gaspo. At the national team level, she has captained the Under-23 team. Aquino also had a short stint with Swedish powerhouse with Rosengard in 2018.
CONCACAF 2020 Olympic Games Regional Qualifiers
St. Kitts and Nevis, Jamaica and Haiti advanced from the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) regional qualifying round for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
In Group A, St. Kitts and Nevis Sugar Girlz scored 20 goals and allowed only 2, compiling 10 points in four games and advancing over the Dominican Republic (8 points), Trinidad and Tobago (7 points), Antigua and Barbuda (3 points) and Aruba (0 points). In the crucial first match of the group, St. Kitts and the Dominican Republic—the latter a team that has improved within the Caribbean Football Union of late—tied 0-0 on September 30. St Kitts shocked the host Trinidad and Tobago side 4-1 on October 6, and T&T then tied the Dominican Republic 0-0 on October 8; a win would still have left T&T one point behind St. Kitts after their loss. Trinidad and Tobago still continues to flounder after narrowly missing out on a Women's World Cup inter-Confederation play-in spot with Ecuador in 2015 amid turmoil at the federation and coaching level.
Surprising St. Kitts and Nevis is led by American-born Phoenetia Browne, who has played this season with Aland United in Finland, after lining up with Olimpia Cluj in Romania. She started in Europe at UMF Sindri Hofn in Iceland and then joined second division French side CSFA Ambilly before going to Romania and then Finland. She grew up in the Bronx in New York City and played at Columbia University, where she completed her Bachelors' Degree, and then finished her college football career at the University of Texas, where she completed a Masters' Degree in Civil Engineering. She played for New Jersey Copa in the first year of UWS in 2016 and made the league championship final before heading to Europe. Teammate Brittney Lawrence was raised in Canada and now plays with Skoftebyns IF in Sweden. Ellie Stokes is a teenager who was born and raised in the States and plays for Baltimore Armour U-17, while another teenager, Cloey Uddenberg, was born in Canada and plays youth ball with the Aurora Soccer Club in Ontario.
In Group B, Jamaica had 37 goals for with 1 goal against (12 points), with Cuba second (9 points), Barbados third (6 points), followed by St. Lucia (3 points) and the U.S. Virgin Islands (0 points).
In Group C, Haiti had 12 goals with 1 assist (6 points) in besting Puerto Rico (3 points) and Surinam (0 Points), with Haiti defeating Puerto Rico 2-1 on October 7.
In the Central American region of CONCACAF, Costa Rica (6 points) bested Nicaragua (3 points) and El Salvador (0 points) in Group A, with Costa Rica winning the key match over Nicaragua 2-0 on October 4 and advancing to the CONCACAF finals.
In Group B, Panama advanced to the regional finals on 6 points, with Guatemala second on 3 points and Honduras third with 0 points. Panama beat Guatemala 3-1 on October 8 in the key match of the Group.
UEFA Round of 16 First Legs
Six of the eight first leg Round of 16 ties on October 16/17 ended in substantial advantages for one side. Bayern Munich defeated BIIK of Kazakhstan 5-0 in Shymkent, showing that there is still a gap between the Kazakh side—one of the strongest clubs in Eastern Europe—and the Western European giants. Last season BIIK shocked Barcelona of Spain 3-1 at home in the first leg at the Round of 32 stage but fell 3-0 in Spain to the eventual WCL finalists in 2018-19, losing 4-3 on aggregate. This year, Lina Magull—who won two Women's Champions League titles with Wolfsburg in 2012-13 and 2013-14, scored a brace for Bayern Munich, with one coming from the penalty spot. Australian international forward Emily Gielnik started the match and scored one of the other three goals to open her account in Germany; she won a Premiership (regular season) title earlier this year with Melbourne Victory at home.
Bayern's German compatriots Wolfsburg won by a similar wide margin to take a hefty advantage into the second leg, defeating Twente of the Netherlands 6-0 in Wolfsburg, with midfielder Zsanett Jakabfi of Hungary scoring a brace as did Dutch Women's World Cup star Dominique Bloodworth against the runners-up to Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven last season in the league.
Bloodworth's former club Arsenal of England should be clear through with a home second leg after defeating Slavia Prague 5-2 on October 16. Despite four goals from Dutch international forward Vivianne Miedema—who is tied with Lyon's Ada Hegerberg for the Golden Boot this season in the Champions League—and one from Scotland's Kim Little from the penalty spot within the first hour, Slavia pulled two goals back from Czech Republic international Katerina Svitkova and Sweden's Mia Persson to make things a little more interesting ahead of the return leg.
Olympique Lyonnais defeated former finalist Fortuna Hjorring 4-0—when they lost to Umea 7-1 on aggregate over 2 legs in the UEFA Women's Cup (now WCL)—with braces from Norwegian international Ada Hegerberg (one from the spot) and French international forward Eugenie Le Sommer. Fortuna is appearing in their 11th straight European club competition and 9th time in the Round of 16, but has only made the Quarterfinals once (in 2016-17).
Their French compatriots Paris Saint Germain won 4-0 away against Breidablik of Iceland, with goals from 41-year old Brazilian international Formiga, Norway's Karina Saevik, Paulina Dudek of Poland late in injury time and French international Marie-Antoinette Katoto, with Canadian international Jordyn Huitema substituting in for Katoto at halftime. Christine Endler of Chile started the match in goal and ex-Stanford University and U.S. youth international defender Alana Cook, a recent signing who bypassed the 2019 NWSL draft and is on a three year contract, also started for PSG.
On November 17, Barcelona hosted Minsk of Belarus and was up 4-0 by the 26th
minute mark, with Spanish international forward Aitana Bonmati (21) scoring a brace. Bonmati was a member of Spain's 2019 WWC squad in France, playing 58 minutes across two games.
Closer ties that could still be a toss-up include Glasgow City's surprising 2-0 win over Brondby in Denmark, with one goal coming from a Brondby own goal. Former Scottish international Leanne Ross' free kick came on the hour after 29-year old goalkeeper Katrine Abel of Brondby tried to catch her shot but it slipped from her hands and bounced into the goal. Sam Kerr gave her side a dream start with a goal after 40 seconds. Brondby have reached the semi-finals three times, but failed to make it beyond the last 16 in the past four seasons. The upset was a surprise as Brondby is a full-time club and Glasgow City is a part-time outfit.
Glasgow City captain Leanne Ross (38)—who had over 100 national team caps before retiring in 2017—told the BBC before the match that Champions League football puts their players "in the shop window" for clubs abroad, showcasing the talent in the domestic game in Scotland: "If they're ambitious and want to play professionally abroad, a lot of our players have been picked off at this stage after games. It's difficult for us to keep losing our top players, but that's the nature of the game when we can't offer full-time football. So if they're in the shop window and teams pick them up, it's fantastic for them." Lisa Evans went from the club to Turbine Potsdam after playing the German power in the WCL in 2012. Erin Cuthbert was also with the club when her current team Chelsea knocked them out in the Round of 32 stage in 2015, while Fiona Brown later joined their next opponents, Swedish outfit Eskilstuna United. Ross continued: "The younger girls see that it's possible to go and play either professionally or in World Cups and European Championships—that's driving them on. Because we've got so many players playing international football, the standards are really high so they're always high in our club as well, because you can't just switch that on and off at international camp. So we're pretty lucky we've got a number of players who set those standards, those who aren't are told if they aren't hitting those standards."
This is the fifth time since 2011-12 that Glasgow City has made the Round of 16 and they made the last 8 in 2014-15, falling to PSG on aggregate 7-0. Ross said that there are still a couple of players from that squad to guide their youngsters as: "There's a lot of players in our team now who haven't been this far. For the younger players it's a huge experience and step up for them, but I think we need to learn from every game we play to adapt and step up our game at every stage as you go up in this competition."
Manchester City versus Atletico Madrid in Manchester ended 1-1, with both goals coming from CONCACAF forwards, with Canadian international Janine Beckie scoring her fifth of the competition early (13th minute) before Mexican international Charlyn Corral tied it up in the 81st minute, leaving a very interesting return leg.
Minsk, Twente, Breidablik and BIIK-Kazygurt all came through from the qualifying round (Round of 64): four teams advancing are the most since 2010/11, the last year that all national runners-up from the top nations were added to the competition.
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women's football. Get your copy today.
Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey
