U17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers: Lionesses brace up for Egypt return leg clash Saturday.

Access to the Kouekong Stadium for game will be free of charge

Players and members of the technical staff of the Under-17 women’s national football team of Cameroon have taken up residence in Bafoussam as the team prepares to face their counterpart of Egypt on Saturday January 17.

The match to be played at the Kuekong Omnisport Stadium as from 2pm, counts for the second leg first round Africa zonal qualifiers to the 2025 U17 Women’s World Cup to be hosted by Morocco.



Ahead of the clash, the Cameroon team coached by Joseph Brian Ndoko arrived the West Regional capital city on Tuesday to continue preparations.

Coach Ndoko and his girls held their first training session at the Bamendzi Stadium Tuesday evening. 

The session saw the coaching staff work with the girls on muscle strengthening and other athletic components of the game. This was under the lead coordination of the team’s physical trainer 

Cameroon defeated Egypt 5-0 during the first leg match in Cairo last weekend and looks to complete the job at home and advance to the next round of the qualifiers.

Coach Ndoko told reporters in Bafoussam that they are working to have a result even better than that obtained in Cairo.

He said they are paying attention to discipline and seriousness in handling the upcoming fixture.

“Now is not the time to think that we won the first leg. We have to reproduce the things we have worked on. We must be able to repeat the feat. If yesterday it was an achievement, today it will be like a job accomplished,” said the coach, who is aware of the high expectations of the public.

Ndoko, however, has a clear ambition, which is qualification for the World Cup, reason why he is calling for general mobilisation.

“There should be no excuses, and everyone must get involved. As long as all Cameroonians are involved, we will certainly do it easily,”.

On her part, Tazanou Ange who scored a hattrick in Cameroon’s 5-0 win during the away leg said, “My teammates and I continue to work hard to welcome the opponent and spank them more”.

Quizzed about the secret of her brilliance in the away game in Cairo, she said: “Regarding the last match, I scored a hattrick thanks to my teammates. We play a collective game thanks to the coach and his staff,”

The Bansoa Academy young star is aware of her potential, but believes she needs to work harder to accomplish her dreams.

“For the moment, I have just started. I am only at the beginning of my career. I promise you that I will work hard to reach the high level,” a statement that clearly illustrates the state of mind of the young player, balancing ambition and hard work.

 

Free access to stadium

The Cameroon Football Federation, FECAFOOT, in a release stated that access to the Kouekong Omnisport Stadium for the match will be free of charge.

The move from the federation is to encourage fans to massively show up at the stadium and push the Lionesses to victory against their Egyptian counterpart.

Cameroon is seeking to return to the final phase of the Under-17 Women’s World Cup for the first time since its last participation in 2018 in Greece.

The 2025 tournament will take place in Morocco between October and November. The tournament will assemble a total of 24 teams including five from the African continent. 

Four of the five teams from Africa will qualify through the ongoing qualifiers which flagged off this month and ends in April. The qualifying series is spread across three legs.

Per the qualification format, the U17 Lionesses will entertain Ethiopia in March during the second round of the qualifiers should they confirms their qualification ticket on Saturday. 

In case Cameroon goes through the second round, they will next face either Kenya or the winner of the still-to-be-concluded round one battle between Uganda and Namibia. 

 

This story was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3340 of Thursday January 16, 2025

 

 

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