Rivers Angels bounce away instead of to bounce back from their opening game defeat as Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies FC of South Africa handed the Nigerian Champions with its second defeat in the group stage of the maiden TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Champions League on Tuesday.
The game started with Rivers Angels dominating the game and recording three corner kicks in a row but it was captain Nhlapho that put Sundowns ahead in the 16th minute from their first corner of the game after a controversial goal-line decision by the Rwandan referee, Salima Mukansanga.
Sundowns backline stood their ground throughout the entire second half to denied all of the Angels’scoring chances, as the game ended 1-0 in favour of the South Africa based team.
The result means that Rivers Angels are out of the competition irrespective of the outcome of their game against Vihiga Queens of Kenya on Friday.
Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies become the second club behind Hasaacas Ladies to win two games from two in this competition. They are also the only club yet to concede a goal in this competition after defeating Vihiga Queens of Kenya 1-0 in its first group game.
The South Africans with a maximum of six points occupy the top position in Group B ahead of ASFAR FC and Vihiga Queens with three points apiece, and will next face ASFAR FC to determine the group leaders.
Vihiga Queens of Kenya bounced back from their opening group game defeat with a 2-0 win over ASFAR FC of Morocco at the maiden TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Champions League on Tuesday.
The CECAFA Champions opened the scoring in the 8th minute through Violet Wanyonyi who fired home the rebounds as ASFAR protested offside.
ASFAR offside call that led to Vihiga’s first goal.
Six minutes into the second half, Hanane’s clearance came off Jentrix Shikangwa’s shin to beat Errmichi who was off her post and landed into the top corner of the post to double Vihiga Queens’ lead.
The Vihiga second goal in pictures.
Vihiga Queens will face Rivers Angels in its final Group B game while ASFAR FC squares up with Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies with a chance to book a place in the semifinals.
The Nigerian Women’s Football League Premiership defending champions, Rivers Angels will look to bounce back and revive their hope of surviving the group stage when they face South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns, on Tuesday, November 9, 2021 at Al Salam Stadium, Cairo by 6pm Nigeria time.
Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies’ Coach, Jerry Tshabalala believes the Angels will be keen to respond emphatically when they meet later today, after their 3-0 hammering at the hands of Morocco’s ASFAR in their opener.
“The game against Rivers Angels will be a very tough one for us. We have studied them quite well and they are a very strong and physical side. We need the 3points to seal our semifinals spot but they are also desperate for the 3points after losing their opener, they will be keen to get their campaign back on track. Therefore, we have to be cautious in the way we approach this game. If we are to become the Champions of Africa, these are the games we have to win.
“We are aware of the challenges they faced before their first game but we are going to frustrate them to achieve our goal. We are ready for the challenge because this is one of the biggest games of our lives,” Coach Tshabalala stated.
A second win for the Sundowns Ladies will guarantee their spot in the final four. However, Captain Nhlapho who marshals the Sundowns defence is anticipating a tough fixture.
“They are a very solid unit and a well-structured side. They have good movements and transitions with and without the ball. As a team, we need to ensure that our ball distribution abilities are spot on against them. The coaching team has constantly stressed the need for patience when we are facing sides with a deep-lying defensive setup.
“We won the game with a slim margin which we are not used to. We are used to scoring 5-8 goals per match, so we have to be more ruthless with our finishing against Rivers Angels because that is the only way to seal the victory. It’s not going to be an easy battle, but we are confident of our chances,” stated the defender.
Nigeria international, Maduka Okoye, has completed his move from Sparta Rotterdam to Watford FC.
He joins Watford on a five-and-a-half year deal that will officially start from 1st of January, 2021.
The 22 year old Eagles’ save-hands will however remain at his dutch club up until the end of the season.
Maduka has 13 caps for the Super Eagles since his debut for Nigeria against the Samba Boys of Brazil in 2019.
He began his career at Borussia Mochengladbach youth before moving on to Bayer Leverkusen’s youth system and lastly turning out for Fortuna Dusseldorf youths.
His incredible performances earned him the Player Of The Year Award at Sparta Rotterdam in his debut season in the Dutch topflight.
Maduka now becomes the seventh Nigerian on the payroll of the Hornets. Watford previously had Oghenekaro Etebo, William Ekong, Isaac Success, Dennis Emmanuel, Joseph Hungbo and Dele Bashiru.
The Nigeria Women Football League headed by Aisha Falode has warned NWFL Premiership clubs to avoid late registration as the new season begins on December 8, 2021.
In a statement signed by the Chief Operating Officer of the NWFL, Modupe Shabi, the league body advised the Premiership clubs to ensure they perfect all registration processes before the closing date which has been fixed November 25, 2021 ahead of the NWFL Premiership League kick off on December 8, as there won’t be any postponement of kick off date.
The statement noted that, late registration will attract a penalty fee of N400,000.
Modupe Shabi noted that: “At 12noon local time on November 25, 2021, all NWFL Premiership clubs must have submitted evidence of incorporation as a Limited Liability Company with the Corporate Affairs Commission, bank statement for a period of one year, signed financial guarantee form from the sponsor(s) of the club to honour all it’s fixtures obligations the league season.
“Clubs must also present before the commencement of the season, a comprehensive Pre-Competition Medical Assessment (PCMA) of all registered players using the FIFA Medical Clearance Form enclosed.
“The clubs must present Seasonal Insurance Certificates of registered players for the upcoming league season which will cover for accident, injury and death (Dekaizen Worldwide Limited Insurance Company). Adding that clubs must present at point of submission of licensing materials, list of officials and their designations. Original and duplicate copy of players contract, duly stamped by the NWFL before disbursement to the various parties. A list of Coaching Crew with details of their qualifications, attaching credentials of which minimum requirement / certification – NIS Advance Course of Coaching Study.”
Noting that: “Uncertified NIS or equivalent coach will not be eligible / qualified to sit on the technical bench during matches in the upcoming league season.
“Clubs must submit to the NWFL Secretariat team preferred match venues for all home league matches. Match venues must have standard facilities e.g dressing rooms for players and officials, stewards / security officials numbers must be in tandem as stated in the pre-match meetings. Team home and away jerseys must be specific.”
The statement also touched on players welfare, which states that: Clubs must submit to the NWFL an audited Annual Report of their activities as follows:
(a) Indebtedness, profits or losses. (b) Sponsorships. (c) A clear evidence of payment of players salaries in the previous season.
The statement advises the clubs to take note and ensure compliance before the November 25 deadline for registration, as there won’t be half measures.
As part of advancing professionalism in women’s football clubs in Africa, CAF held a Club Licensing workshop in Cairo for teams that are currently participating in the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Champions League.
The workshop, organized by CAF with the support of FIFA, was attended by coaches and managers from the eight clubs that have qualified for the final tournament.
Photo credit: CAF online
Speaking at the workshop, CAF Vice-President and Chairperson of Women’s Football Committee, Kanizat Ibrahim said: “Having strong women’s football clubs is a guarantee of quality in the future. We owe it to ourselves to build a structure that respects standards and CAF is happy to support women’s clubs in order to improve professionalism.”
CAF has worked on important updates on the Club Licensing Program at the continental level, which includes launching the inaugural edition of the CAF Women’s Club Licensing Regulations.
This step comes in line with the creation of the first edition of the CAF Women’s Champions League 2021 whereby clubs needed to meet certain criteria in order to obtain a licence and be able to participate in the competition.
CAF & FIFA Women’s Football departments and CAF Club Licensing gave brilliant presentations about women’s football clubs and development strategies.
The introduction and implementation of the system allows CAF to better understand the realities of the top women’s football clubs and accelerate the professionalization of the Women’s game in the continent.
The CAF Women’s Club Licensing Regulations focuses on the sporting, administration, infrastructure, finance, and legal pillars. It is particularly important to mention that the CAF Women’s club Licensing criteria are simple and realistic for the clubs to meet and is applied to the women’s football clubs participating in every edition of the CAF Women’s Champions League.
The objectives of the workshop were to:
• Introduce the new CAF Women´s club licensing system and regulations to the clubs.
• Explain the general objectives of the club licensing system; Explain the club licensing criteria and requirements
• Understand the organization and structure of the participating clubs; Have one on one meetings with the clubs to evaluate level of compliance of club licensing
• Gather administrative, financial, and competition information related to the participating clubs.
• Provide support and advise on fulfilment of the club licensing requirements.
In view for the participation in the CAF Women’s Champions League 2021 which is organized in two phases (zonal qualifiers and final phase), the CAF member associations concluded a licensing process at national level in respect to the obligation of their clubs having to meet the criteria and requirements set by CAF for participation in the competition.
For the 2021 CAF WCL edition, 34 clubs were licensed and 32 took part in zonal qualifiers.
With Evelyn Badu brace and Pepertual Agyekum’s goal, Hasaacas Ladies FC secure their second TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Champions League win beating AS Mandé of Mali 3-0 on Monday.
AS Mandé were forced to make an early substitution when Aissatou Diallo injured her knee and was replaced by a 18-year-old Sadio Sow.
Goals from familiar names as Evelyn Badu opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a wonderful strike from the box before Perpetual Agyekum direct free kick was punched in the back of the net by the teenage goalkeeper. Evelyn Badu then finishes off Veronica Appiah’s pass from a close range to make it 3-0.
Badu who had scored brace in the opening game against Malabo Kings now has four (4) goals and leads the topscorer chart ahead of Sanaa Mssoudy (3) of ASFAR
The Ghanaian side have now moved top of the Group A with two wins from two games, ahead of Malabo Kings (3 points), Wadi Degla FC (3 points), and AS Mandé (0 point).
Hasaacas Ladies FC will face host, Wadi Degla FC of Egypt in its final group game while AS Mandé plays Malabo Kings of Equatorial Guinea.
Nigeria sole representative at the inaugural edition of the CAF Women’s Champions League, Rivers Angels will look to make amends for their opening defeat when they face South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns, on Tuesday, November 9, 2021 at Al Salam Stadium, Cairo by 6pm Nigeria time.
After an unexpected but deserved 3-0 defeat to Morocco’s ASFAR in their opening fixture, Rivers Angels are in a tough situation as they heads into a tasking must-win encounter with the Champions of COSAFA in their second group game.
The head coach of the side, Edwin Okon has promised a better performance when his side battle for revival; “For now all is well with the team, we’ve rested enough & also had our first official training yesterday.
“We will try to correct the lapses we had in our first game & ensure we give our fans back home a better performance tomorrow.”
A second win for the Sundowns Ladies will guarantee their spot in the final four.
Knowing the qualities of both sides and the rivalry between the national teams, the match will be a thriller to watch.
You can watch the match live on YouTube FIFA TV and CAF TV channel, Supersport variety and beIN sport.
Malabo Kings bounced back from their opening game 3-1 defeat to Hasaacas Ladies of Ghana to resurrect their hope at the maiden TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Champions League with a 3-0 win over Wadi Degla FC of Egypt on Monday.
The UNIFFAC Champions opened the scoring in the 13th minute through Stephanie Drepogba Gbogou from the spot kick, before before doubling the lead in the 41st minute with a composed header to convert Grace Balongo’s effort into the back of the net.
Photo Credit: CAF Gbogou and Balongo in action against Wadi Degla.
Grace Balongo made it 3-0 in the 58th minute after receiving a counter pass from Nke and slotted the ball into the bottom corner.
The Equatorial Guinea based team have moved to second on the Group-A log with their first win and a +1 goal difference behind Hasaacas Ladies of Ghana who will square up with AS Mandé of Mali later today.
Wadi Degla FC will face West African Football Union (WAFU-B) Champions, Hasaacas Ladies FC in its tasking final group game to have a chance of making it to the semifinals.
Uchenna Kanu scored two goals for her Swedish Damallsvenskan side, Linkopings FC in the course of their 2-0 win over Joy Bokiri’s AIK on Saturday.
With nothing to separate the two sides at halftime, Uchenna Kanu broke the deadlock in the 49th minute of the match, before Cornelia Kapocs stumbled on the ball and it ended up perfectly for Kanu who with a ground shot pounded in 2-0 to the right of Milla-Maj Majasaari in the 65th minute.
The Nigerian international ended the season with 14 league goals from 20 games and second on the goalscorer chart behind Rosengard’s Stina Blackstenius with 17 goals.
Linkopings FC finished the season in the sixth position, three places below the UEFA Women’s Champions League spot and two places below its finish in the 2020 season.
In the opponent’s team was another Nigerian international, Joy Boriki who played for the duration of the game for AIK. She joined from Bayelsa Queens FC and played four games for her Swedish side as they finished the season in the tenth position.
MOLATsportgist 