KAMPALA, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Despite a 1-0 away loss, Zambia eliminated Uganda in the third round of the 2024 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup qualifiers with a 2-1 aggregation on Friday.
After a goalless first half at the St. Marys Stadium, Kitende, host Uganda piled pressure in the second half and scored through Sylvia Kabene on 73 minutes.
Uganda Teen Cranes tried to look for more goals, but failed and crashed out of the qualifiers.
Zambia coach Carol Kanyemba praised her team for withstanding the pressure by the hosts to put up a good show.
"I am glad we have qualified for the fourth round and we need to keep working hard because we are hungry to qualify for the World Cup," Kanyemba said.
Zambia captain Zangose Zulu also made it clear they had worked hard as a team to make it past Uganda. "I thank everyone back home for the prayers and all my teammates for the hard work," added Zulu.
Uganda coach Sherly Botes admitted that although they created some good scoring chances, they failed to take them. "The team tried to play better than they did in the first leg in Lusaka, but we were just not lucky today," added Botes.
Zambia will face the winner between Morocco and Algeria in the fourth and final round of the qualifiers.
Burundi, another team from the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) Zone, also qualified for the fourth round after ejecting Djibouti 24-0 on aggregate.
The FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup 2024, which will have three qualified teams from Africa, will take place in the Dominican Republic from October 16 to November 3, 2024. ■
