Women’s Olympic Qualifiers: Nigeria Advances, S’Africa Crashes Out

It was a hard-fought win in Lagos as Nigeria secured a 1-0 victory over Algeria in their Women’s Olympic qualifying encounter early this week.
A flash of individual brilliance from Asisat Oshoala was enough to ensure Thomas Dennerby’s ladies claimed a 3-0 aggregate win, courtesy a lone goal victory on Tuesday.
Ghana built on a 3-0 first-leg lead at Stade Augustin Monédan in Libreville as they earned a 2-0 win over Gabon in Accra.
With the second leg win at Accra Sports Stadium, the Black Queens have advanced to the third round on a 5-0 aggregate win.
At Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos, Malawi crashed out of the qualifying series after a 3-0 defeat to Kenya.
The East Africans lost the first leg 3-2 but bounced back at home to secure a passage to the next round after a 5-3 win on aggregate.
In Harare, Zimbabwe failed to honour their second leg meeting with Zambia as players boycotted the tie in a protest over their unpaid allowances from the 2019 Cosafa Women’s Cup.
The unsavoury development saw the Shepolopolo, who won 5-0 in the first leg in Blantyre, advance to the next phase after getting a walkover against the Mighty Warriors.
Elsewhere, Cameroon were held to a 0-0 draw with Ethiopia in Yaoundé but they squeezed past the East Africans on the away goals rule after a 1-1 first-leg draw in Bahir Dar.
For DR Congo, they booked a ticket in the next round without kicking a ball following the withdrawal of Equatorial Guinea, having been expelled from the Tokyo 2020 Women’s Olympics by Fifa.
At Stade Mamadou Konate, Mali could not overturn their 3-0 first-leg deficit as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Cote d’Ivoire.
The result means the 2018 African Women’s Cup of Nations semi-finalists are out of the qualifying race after a 3-0 loss on aggregate.
In Soweto, South Africa became the biggest casualty of the second round as the 2019 Women’s World Cup side crashed out at the expense of Cosafa rivals Botswana.