WOMEN'S FOOTBALL
Women’s World Cup: England’s Bronze dreams gold
Right back Lucy Bronze believes England’s experience in winning a major final at last year’s Euros could be crucial in Sunday’s Women’s World Cup title-decider against a Spain side she knows well.
Bronze, Asisat Oshoala’s teammate at Barcelona, lost World Cup semi-finals with England in 2015 and 2019 but was a core member of the Lionesses team that beat Germany to win a first major title at the European Championship last year.
The 31-year-old, who plays her club football in Spain for Barcelona, was again a rock in defence on Wednesday when England neutralised a big crowd in Sydney to beat co-hosts Australia 3-1 and reach their first World Cup final.
“We’re going up against a team I personally know very well,” Bronze told reporters after the match.
“We know how to win finals. That’s something Spain doesn’t have that we have. That’s an experience that not only I have but many of these England players have …
“I’m excited,” she added. “I’m really good friends with a couple of them, my team mates in Barcelona, myself and Keira (Walsh) know them very well.
“We’ve been speaking to them throughout the tournament and even before the tournament started we had a joke, saying, ‘We’ll see you in the final,’ and that’s come true.”
England needed a huge defensive effort and were forced to come from a goal down to beat Spain in extra time in the quarter-finals of last year’s Euros.
Although they arrived at the World Cup as one of the favourites, they came without key players because of injury and then lost one of their best performers, Lauren James, to a ban after she was shown a red card in their match against Nigeria.
Bronze said England’s resilience in the face of such setbacks would also hold them in good stead back at Stadium Australia on Sunday.
“The strength of this team is we stick together, we’ve got an incredibly tight bond, we’ve got a tight-knit team,” she said.
“Winning the Euros last gave us a huge amount of confidence but we’ve suffered a few losses this year in terms of big players, a lot of noise on the outside and it’s just pushed us closer together.
“Before the tournament, people had us down to get knocked out in the group or something, and now we’re in the final.”
-Reuters
Despite wintry conditions in Blida, on the outskirts of the Algerian capital, Algiers, Nigeria’s U17 girls dug their feet into the ground on Friday night.
They achieved a scoreless draw that qualified them for this year’s FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup finals.
Holding on to a 4-0 first-leg advantage, the 2002 bronze medallists adopted a calm and collected pattern that easily soaked up the expected pressure from the hosts and then relied on fast breaks to try and pull the trigger on their opponents.
Although they created better chances on the night, the Flamingos failed to make dominance in possession pay, but swiftly collected the ticket to Morocco on a 4-0 aggregate win.
The difference over two legs of the final round was a remarkable display in the opening leg by the Flamingos, during which a brace by Queen Joseph and one each by Zainab Raji and substitute Aisha Animashaun ensured a 4-0 win.
The Flamingos will now be one of Africa’s five representatives (including hosts Morocco) at this year’s FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup finals taking place from 17th October – 5th November. The final competition will entertain 24 teams for the very first time.
Since the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup competition was launched in New Zealand in 2008, Nigeria have failed to make the finals only once – the 2018 tournament hosted by Uruguay.
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WOMEN'S FOOTBALL
Despite heavy first leg loss, Algeria hopeful of a turnaround in Nigeria’s Flamingos clash
The Algeria U17 women’s national team still hope for a possible turnaround in this Friday night clash with Nigeria’s Flamingos.
Algeria lost 4-0 in the first leg match in Ikenne last Saturday.
The Algerians completed their preparations on Thursday at the Sidi Moussa National Technical Centre, the eve of the return match against Nigeria.
The return match is scheduled for this Friday at 8 p.m. at the Mustapha Tchaker Stadium in Blida. Aggregate winners will pick a ticket to the FIFA U-17 Women’s 2025 World Cup.
According to sources in Algeria, all the players took part in the final session, during which coach Abdenour Mira finalised the tactical details for the make or mar encounter.
Despite the heavy defeat conceded in the first leg (4-0), the young Algerians approach this match with the desire to finish well and deliver an honourable performance against a formidable Nigerian team.
During the technical meeting held early in the afternoon at the FAF headquarters, in the presence of representatives of the two teams and the organisers, it was decided that Algeria will play in green, while Nigeria will wear white.
The match will be officiated by Cameroonian Aline Marie Noelle Guimbang, assisted by her compatriot Laurie Marcelle Tsafack Teikeu and Chadian Victorine Ngarassoum.
The fourth official will also be Cameroonian, Innoncentia Njang Ntangti.
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WOMEN'S FOOTBALL
Under possible cold weather in Blida, Nigeria’s Flamingos set to grab World Cup ticket
The weather is most likely to be cold, but Nigeria’s U17 girls, Flamingos, are set to continue a tradition of qualifying for every edition of the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, which has had eight editions, out of which the Flamingos featured in seven.
Only Japan, with 100 per cent attendance, has featured in more competitions than Nigeria’s Flamingos.
They look poised to feature again after a 4-0 defeat of Algeria in the first leg of the final qualifying series.
Apart from their opponents, Algeria, they have the expected cold weather to battle with at the Stade Mustapha Tchaker in Blida (outside Algiers), on Friday night.
Friday’s encounter against their Algerian counterparts is the final leg of a final qualifying round fixture, with the Flamingos, bronze-medallists from the 2022 finals in India and quarterfinalists from the last edition in the Dominican Republic, holding on to a 4-0 first-leg advantage.
The Federation Algerienne de Football (FAF) has scheduled the match to kick off at 8 pm, at a time when the winds will begin to blow in stronger from the Mediterranean Sea.
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