Perpetua Nkwocha's two first-half goals held up for Nigeria in its 2-1 win over South Africa today in Group A action of the African Women's Football Championship. With the win, Nigeria became the first team in the AWC to qualify for the knockout round. In the second Group A game today, Mali beat Tanzania, 3-2, eliminating Tanzania from the tournament. In Ecuador, Argentina faces Bolivia and Ecuador takes on Chile in the first games of the CONMEBOL qualifiers.
With Canada's 3-0 win Tuesday night over Mexico, Canada won Group A and will now play Costa Rica Friday in the semifinals. The U.S. won Group B with a 4-0 victory over Costa Rica and head into the semifinals where they'll take on Mexico (Nov. 5 at 8 p.m. local time). The finals and third-place playoff game take place on Monday, Nov. 8.
The first set of games at the 2010 African Women's Football Championship wrapped up this afternoon in South Africa.
South Africa beat Tanzania, 2-1, Sunday in the first game of the African Women's Football Championship, which serves as the World Cup qualifier for the Confederation of African Football. The group stage runs through Nov. 8, and the knockout round begins Nov. 11.
Canada and Mexico moved on to the semifinals of the CONCACAF Women's World Cup qualifiers with their wins Sunday night. Canada got four goals from captain Christine Sinclair, two from Jonelle Filigno, and one each from Kara Lang and Christina Julien. Mexico, meanwhile, beat Trinidad and Tobago, 2-0, with goals coming from Maribel Domínguez and Juana Lopez.
Costa Rica and the U.S. became the first two teams to advance to the semifinals of the 2010 Women's World Cup qualifiers with their wins Saturday night in Cancún. And it was the night of the Roridriguezes as Amy Rodriguez scored a hat trick for the U.S. and Raquel Rodríguez Cedeno celebrated her 17th birthday with two goals in Costa Rica's 3-0 win over Haiti.
Day two of the CONCACAF Women's World Cup qualifiers in Cancún produced favorable results for the two favorites in Group A, and although it seemed like Canada barely got out alive against Trinidad and Tobago, the Canadians dominated play in their 1-0 victory. Forward Melissa Tancredi, who had two goals disallowed in the first half, scored for Canada. Mexico breezed past Guyana, a team playing in its first Gold Cup. Maribel Domínguez scored four goals to lead Mexico in its 7-2 win over Guyana.
The first day of the 2010 CONCACAF Gold Cup/Women's World Cup Qualifiers produced victories for both the U.S. and Costa Rica. In the U.S.'s 5-0 win over Haiti, Abby Wambach scored three goals, Amy Rodriguez scored one as did Rachel Buehler, her first USWNT goal.
The Football Association of Ireland named Susan Ronan as its new head coach Thursday, October 14. Prior to the announcement, Ronan talked to Our Game about Ireland forward Fiona O'Sullivan, who was featured in the October issue of Our Game Magazine.
Ali Riley, who was on the cover of and featured in the August 2010 issue of Our Game Magazine, scored two goals on October 8 in New Zealand's 11-0 win over Papua New Guinea in the final of the OFC Women's Championship.
In the July 2010 issue of Our Game Magazine, we featured 20-year-old American Leah Fortune, who played for the U-20 Brazilian Women's National Team. Fortune has withdrawn from the University of Texas after being called up to the Brazilian Women's National Team to compete at the 2010 Sudamericano Femenino, CONMEBOL's 2011 World Cup qualifiers.