(Photo credit: next24online/NurPhoto, Getty Images)
The fourth and final round of the CAF Women's Olympic Qualification Tournament draws to a close this week, setting the stage for this summer's Paris 2024 Olympic Women's Football Tournament. Nigeria and Zambia became the final two teams to qualify after defeating South Africa and Morocco respectively in the final tie.
Nigeria 1-0 South Africa
Nigeria were the best African team in the last World Cup, defeating potential finalists England on penalties in a draw in the round of 16, and the Super Falcons hope to qualify for the Olympics and move on from there. He would have hoped to improve his grades even further. It is missing from the past three editions.
The road to the final qualifying round was fairly smooth, and in the end they comfortably defeated Ethiopia in the second round thanks to a big leg at home, making the most of their only goal in the two legs against Cameroon. South Africa also suffered a somewhat surprising away draw in the first leg of the second round against the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but they also won at home, defeating Tanzania 4-0 on aggregate in the third round.
Both teams knew the final playoff game would be a much tougher test with very close contests. In fact, that proved to be the case. Nigeria won 1-0 at home thanks to Rashidat Ajibade's penalty at the end of half-time, an almost undeserved victory as Nigeria were the better team in terms of balance of play.
This advantage allowed South Africa to steal momentum in the second leg, but the Super Falcons decisively did not defend too deep and ensured that their opponents had to work hard to maintain the pressure. This approach ensured that neither team could pose a serious goal threat and they comfortably won a goalless draw, earning them a ticket to Paris in the summer.
Zambia 3-2 Morocco
Morocco surpassed Namibia and Tunisia and were one tie away from qualifying for the Olympics, but Zambia was by no means an easy opponent. After a thrilling second leg, where the Black Queens fought back from a two-goal deficit with Barbra Banda's stoppage-time winner, they defeated Ghana 4-3 on aggregate to advance to the fourth round.
Banda scored back-to-back hat-tricks in the last edition and is the highest-scoring African athlete at the Olympics, but the Copper Queens were still unable to secure a victory. But they now have a much stronger team around Banda, including Rachel Kundananji, the only female footballer who paid a higher transfer fee than Banda.
As a result, hopes were high in Zambia that their team would make consecutive appearances at the Olympics. A packed Levi Mwanawansa Stadium created a great atmosphere for the first leg, but the hosts missed some big chances and conceded a goal with both shots on target, and the winner came just after 90 minutes. I was born and lost 1-2.
There was a lot of work to do for Zambia away, but Banda delivered once again. First, he scored in the 39th minute to equalize the total scoreline. The match then remained deadlocked and went into extra time, but Zambia won 3-2 on aggregate, with the Orlando Pride forward converting the crucial spot-kick.
