falconet 3 Guinea 2016: Falconets through to final round

The U-20 Women National Team, Falconets, have quali­fied for the final round of the African qualifying series for the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, courtesy of a 4-1 aggregate defeat of their counterparts from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

2012 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup top goalscorer Chinwendu Ih­ezuo was the heroine of the two legs, scoring both goals in Abuja on Sat­urday, to add to her goal in Kinshasa two weeks ago, when Nigeria beat the hosts 2-1.

Ihezuo scored her first after only seven minutes at the National Sta­dium, Abuja, when she capitalized on a defensive mistake by the Congolese and raced unchallenged to slot the ball past goalkeeper Kashala Khonde.

The Congolese refused to be de­terred, and played impressively with the petite Salu Lengi, Monique Kipoy and Joelle Muadi showing good skills.

However, the game was all but over after only five minutes into the second half, when Ihezuo again capitalized on a defensive error by the Congolese off a long ball, and held on to secure her brace.

The Falconets, runner-up of the last edition of the competition, will now take on the winner of the fixture between South Africa and Zambia, for a place at the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup finals in Papua New Guinea.