Women’s Soccer, July 2022: A Series
This is the opening post in a series devoted to the 117 games of international women’s football played in July 2022. This post covers the first two rounds of the group stage in the first of the month’s five competitions to kick off. Later today, I’ll post a second entry on the first two rounds of the second tournament to get started, CONCACAF’s W Championship.

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Women’s Africa Cup of Nations – Group Stage (2^nd-7^th)

After an opening day of rest (one of only two such days the entire month), the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations kicked things off on Saturday the 2^nd. The tournament featured three groups of four, with the top two 3^rd-place teams joining the group winners and runners-up in a quarterfinal. Nations that advanced to the semifinals also qualified for the 2023 World Cup, while the losing quarterfinalists would face off in repechage matches to determine two teams that would enter the 10-team Inter-Confederation Playoffs in February. CAF would host a separate qualification process for the 2024 Olympics kicking off the following summer.

Though only Nigeria, Cameroon, and hosts Morocco were seeded, the draw fell out so that each group contained two of the six CAF nations ranked in FIFA’s top 100 women’s teams, with Senegal joining Morocco in Group A, Tunisia with Cameroon in Group B, and South Africa with Nigeria in Group C.

This was a substantial improvement over the two randomly-drawn rounds of home-and-away qualification ties, a process which saw Africa’s top-ranked side, Nigeria, eliminating third-ranked Ghana and fifth-ranked Côte d’Ivoire before the tournament even started. By way of comparison, unranked debutant Burundi qualified by defeating fellow debutants Eritrea and Djibouti.

Nigeria were the overwhelming favorites, having won eleven of the thirteen previous tournaments, including the last three. Cameroon and South Africa, each runners-up in two of the last four editions of the WAfCoN, were their most likely competition. Equatorial Guinea, winners in 2008 and 2012, joined Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire on the sidelines following a comfortable elimination by Tunisia in the second round of qualification.

In terms of promising outsiders, both the host nation Morocco and Tunisia had aspirations to bring North Africa its first WAfCoN title, Algeria having fallen to South Africa in the second round of qualification. From sub-Saharan Africa, Senegal were hoping to challenge the other favorites, having seen Mali out in the second round of qualification, albeit only on penalties.

Group B’s Zambia were a final wild card. Though grossly underestimated by their 103^rd place FIFA ranking—the typically more accurate ELO system placed them 60^th, ahead of Morocco, Tunisia, and Senegal—they were without star striker Barbra Banda, disqualified from participating in a gross act of testosterone-policing. Her absence unjustly weakened one of the continent’s more exciting sides.

In Group A’s tournament opener, Ghizlane Chebbak’s lovely 29’ free kick secured Morocco a much more commanding win over a debutant Burkina Faso side than the 1-0 scoreline suggested. The following day, Sunday the 3^rd, Senegal were largely outplayed by a Uganda side that couldn’t finish their chances, but a penalty and a defensive error either side of half time gave them a 2-0 victory. Senegal were little better against Burkina Faso in the second round of games, held on Tuesday the 5^th, needing an extremely soft penalty call (upheld against the recommendation from the VAR team) to escape with a 1-0 win.

Morocco were probably the better side in a close match with Uganda. A stunning 29’ free kick by Semaya Komuntale undid an early penalty for the host nation, but another free kick by Chebbak, this one headed in by Nesrynre El Chad, put Morocco back ahead; and a questionable VAR review led to a 2^nd penalty that secured their win. Even worse, the poor call led to a second yellow for Komuntale, who was thus suspended for Uganda’s must-win final group stage game against Burkina Faso.

In Group B, also starting on the 3^rd, Cameroon dominated Zambia but missed chance after chance. At 91’, Flora Kameni’s empty net effort was headed away by Lushomo Mweemba to keep Zambia level. Then at 97’, Ajara Nchout appeared to have given Cameroon a deserved win, but she was correctly called offside and the game ended nil-nil. Tunisia had no such difficulty with Togo. In 19 seconds, Mariem Touij chipped Amé Amouklou, and before the quarter hour mark Sabrine Ellouzi had added a second off a free kick. Though Togo pulled one back through a first half penalty (the debutants’ first ever WAfCoN goal), Ellouzi added a third at the hour mark, while a goalkeeping error just over 10’ later sealed a 4-1 win for Tunisia.

In the second round, on Wednesday the 6^th, it was Zambia who dominated Tunisia, edging them in a goalless first half that included a missed penalty attempt and only growing stronger in a second half of missed chances, not least a beautifully executed free kick by Xiomara Mapepa called back for a questionable offside interference. At 92’, a free kick finally resulted in an Avell Chitundu goal, sending Zambia top of the group until Cameroon beat Togo—except that Cameroon didn’t win. Togo went up at 23’ through a penalty—against the run of play—and though Estelle Johnson headed in an equalizer off a free kick before halftime, Cameroon couldn’t convert their increased pressure in the second half into a winning goal. It left the 2^nd-ranked team in the competition 3^rd in their group on only 2 points.

Group C featured by far the most significant game of the opening round of games, with Nigeria facing South Africa on Monday the 4^th. Nigeria had to field their second-choice keeper, Tchukwu Oluehi, as Chiamaka Nnadozie served a yellow card suspension from the qualification. It was a tight affair until just after the hour mark, when a pair of counter-attacking goals by Jermaine Seoposenwe and Hildah Magaia gave South Africa the lead. Though Nigeria pulled back a consolation goal in stoppage time, they also lost Barcelona striker Asisat Oshoala to an MCL strain late in the game.

Later that evening, debutants Burundi and Botswana produced the highest-scoring match of the tournament, as Botswana bossed an entertaining 4-2 affair. Burundi pulled it back to 2-1 in the opening 10’ of the second half before Refilwe Thoakele, who had already assisted the second goal, scored a brace to secure Botswana’s victory. Neither would prove as lucky in the second round on Thursday the 7^th, as a remarkably wasteful South Africa still managed a 3-1 win against Burundi, while Nigeria secured a 2-0 win over Botswana.

Next up: W Championship – Group Stage | Skip to: Women’s Africa Cup of Nations – Group Stage, Final Round