By Spy Uganda
Ethiopia and Uganda have booked their spots in the fourth round of the African qualifiers for the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup, Costa Rica 2022 after earning favourable results in the third round, second leg ties on Friday.
In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia consolidated on their huge 3-1 first-leg victory in Francistown and secured a 5-1 thrashing of Botswana at Abebe Bikila Stadium on the day.
The travelling COSAFA side compounded their own woes as they gifted the home team the lead when Keimetse Thomas scored an own goal, turning the ball into her own net in the 27th minute of the encounter.
Three minutes later, Ariet Odong Ojho doubled the advantage for the hosts before Ridiet Assresahagn hit a brace in the 33rd and 37th minutes for the Ethiopians’ third and fourth goal in the first half.
After the restart, the rampant hosts sustained the pressure on their rattled visits till Lirato Motligelwa scored another own goal to gift them the fifth in the 57th minute. Tshegofatso Nomsa Mosotho, however, struck four minutes from full time but her brilliant late effort turned out a mere consolidation for Botswana.
Speaking to media after their huge 8-2 aggregate triumph, Ethiopia U20 coach Firew Hailegebra said: “We played so well and deserved to win. We now get back to the drawing board to prepare for the next stage.”
Ethiopia’s next opponent is Tanzania and the two sides will play the first leg match during the week of January 21-23, 2022 with the return leg taking place two weeks later in Addis Ababa
