Women’s Africa Cup of Nations: Nigeria Beat Ghana 2-0 in Qualifying

Nigeria clinched a 2-0 home win over Ghana in the first leg of their first round qualifying tie for next year’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.

Uchenna Kanu struck both goals for the hosts before the break in Lagos, the first with a header before adding her second from a corner.

Nigeria’s Super Falcons are three-time defending Nations Cup champions, and have won the continental title a record nine times.

The second leg of the tie will be held in Accra on Sunday.

Elsewhere South Africa, beaten on penalties in the final in 2018, won 7-0 away against Mozambique, with captain Janine van Wyk among the scorers in Maputo.

Kenya cruised to an 8-0 win over South Sudan, who are competing in the qualifiers for the first time, while there were also victories for Cameroon, Namibia, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe on Wednesday.

The aggregate winners of the 22 first-round ties will reach the second round of qualifying, which will decide the 11 nations joining hosts Morocco at next year’s finals.

The 2022 tournament – the first since 2018 after the 2020 edition was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic – will be held from 2-23 July.

The semi-finalists at the Nations Cup will qualify for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, which will be held in Australia and New Zealand, while two other countries will progress to an inter-continental play-off tournament.

The final first round first-leg tie takes place on Friday, when Sao Tome host Togo, with the second legs taking place from 23-26 October.

Djibouti have been given a bye to the second round after their opponents Rwanda withdrew.