2018 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations Qualifiers: Kenya draws first blood at home against Uganda

The qualifiers for this year’s continental showpiece of women football kicked off in Machakos, Kenya on Wednesday. Lilian Adera’s 53rd-minute strike was enough to secure a one-goal advantage for the Harambee Starlets over the Crested Cranes ahead of the second leg to be played this Sunday at Star Times Stadium, Kampala.

The right-back, Adera, curled in a beautiful cross into the box which flicked past Crested Cranes’ goalkeeper, Ruth Aturo. The overall winner of this tie will face Equatorial Guinea in the final qualification stage with a victory guaranteeing a spot at the finals to be held in Ghana from 17 November to the 1st of December 2018.

In other fixtures, Ethiopia thrashed Libya 8-0 away from home in a first leg match and Tanzania drew 3-3 with Zambia.

All the qualification matches and results are listed below:

4 April: Senegal v Algeria
10 April: Algeria v Senegal

FT: Libya 0 Ethiopia 8
10 April: Ethiopia v Libya

4 April: Congo v Central African Republic
10 April: Central African Republic v Congo

FT: Kenya 1 Uganda 0
8 April: Uganda v Kenya

FT: Tanzania 3 Zambia 3
10 April: Zambia v Tanzania

5 April: Namibia v Zimbabwe
TBC: Zimbabwe v Namibia

6 April: Morocco v Ivory Coast
TBC: Ivory Coast v Morocco

7 April: Sierra Leone v Mali
10 April: Mali v Sierra Leone

7 April: Burkina Faso v Gambia
10 April: Gambia v Burkina Faso

6 April: Lesotho v Swaziland
TBC: Swaziland v Lesotho

Countdown to Russia 2018

The buzz of the World’s most popular soccer tournament has already started with only a century of sleeps left before the tournament commences as the hosts, Russia face Saudi Arabia in a match from Group A. Talk has already begun on who looks set to get a call up to the squads. Fringe players have started to mount pressure on their managers and those that were not happy with their clubs have already pushed for moves in the January transfer window. England fans are already dreaming of winning the tournament which has evaded them for the longest time. About 16 teams from the 32 that are competing in this year’s World Cup have already released their kits. What about the famous VAR? Is this technology ready to be implemented in such a tournament?