India 2022™: The Last Six eyeing three Women's World Cup spots

The first leg of the final round will be played, beginning on Friday, May 20 as the African qualifying race for the India 2022 FIFA U17 Women's World Cup™ reaches the final stretch.

The continent's qualifying race for three slots that started with 29 women's youth national teams is now down to six, with regular representatives like Nigeria, Cameroon and Ghana in the mix.

20.05.2022: Ethiopia - Nigeria, Abebe Bekila Stadium in Addis Ababa, 13:00 GMT

Ethiopia are eyeing their first ever qualification to the Women's World Cup, while Nigeria are seeking a return to the global stage following their absence for the first time in Uruguay 2018. To reach this stage, the Ethiopians edged Uganda on away goals through after a 3-3 aggregate score and went on to knock out two-time World Cup campaigners South Africa 3-1 on aggregate. For Nigeria, they started with an 8-0 win on aggregate over DR Congo before brushing aside Egypt 6-0 on aggregate.The two women's teams will be meeting for the second time in the competition, having met for the first time in the 2018 qualifying series. Both teams playing a 1-1 first leg draw in Addis Ababa before a 0-0 second leg draw in Benin City for the Nigerians to advance on the away goals rule. For the first leg, Ethiopia will look to avoid a slip at home and can count on the good forms of Emush Daniel and Eyrus Wondemu as well as Kumneger Kassa and Semira Ahmed to stun the Nigerians.

20.05.2022: Ghana - Morocco, Accra Sports Stadium in Accra, 15:00 GMT

Among the six finalists, Ghana stands tall above all, having appeared in all previous U17 Women's World Cup editions. However, the Moroccans are now the new dark horse in the competition, having made for the first time the final phase of the U20 Women's World Cup qualifiers earlier this year. This will mark the second meeting of both sides in the competition. The first came in 2016 when both nations met in the second round, with Ghana completing a double over the North Africans following a 10-0 aggregate win. Baba Nuhu Mallam's side began their campaign with a 4-0 thrashing of Senegal on aggregate before a 10-1 bashing of Guinea. For Morocco, they subdued Benin 3-1 on aggregate to reach the second round before firing 18 past Niger on aggregate. But the Ghanaians will be desperate to guarantee their ever presence at the finals, this year in India. Besides the fantastic forms of Georgina Aoyem on three goals and two each from Nancy Amoh, Princess Owusu and Constance Agyemang, the Black Maidens will hope to take advantage of their home ground against Moroccans.

22.05.2022: Cameroon - Tanzania, Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo in Yaoundé, 14:30 GMT

Cameroon are aiming for their third consecutive appearance on the global stage after a back-to-back stint at Jordan 2016 and Uruguay 2018. For Tanzania, they are searching for their maiden appearance at the World Cup but now face another uphill task in the Central Africans. In the qualifying series, the young Lionesses earned a second-round walkover against Eritrea before sweeping past Zambia with a 5-0 win on aggregate. While the Tanzanites recorded an 11-0 thumping of Botswana in the second round and went on to overcome Burundi 5-2 on aggregate to reach the fourth and final round. In Yaounde, the Cameroonians will be going all out to take all the three points, relying on the exploits of Camila Daha and Mana Lamine.