By Victor Kanayo
Senegal suffered a 4-0 semi-final loss to Haiti at the North Harbour Stadium on Saturday in the ongoing FIFA Women’s World Cup play-off.
The defeat means the West African country have dashed their hopes of competing in the FIFA Women’s World Cup for the first time in the history.
The Terranga Lionesses came into the Australia and New Zealand 2023 Play-off Tournament on the back of a historic 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal playoff win but could not upstage their Caribbean foes.
On the other hand, Haiti were also on the same quest for a maiden ticket to the global showpiece this summer, after they finished third in their group at the 2023 Concacaf Women’s Championship.
In the other encounter, Cameroon earned a hard-fought 2-0 victory against Thailand.
The Central African Nation will now face Portugal in Hamilton on Wednesday, while Haiti take on Chile in Auckland on the same day to secure two of the three remaining spots at forthcoming World Cup in New Zealand and Australia.
The mundial is scheduled between July 20 and August 2023, and will be the first edition where 32 team will participate.
Four teams will play a straightforward knockout tournament starting on Sunday when Taiwan take on Paraguay in Hamilton and Papua New Guinea face Panama in Auckland.
The winners will meet on Thursday in a game that will decide the final qualifier.
Cameroon, who reached the round of 16 at the 2015 and 2019 World Cups, triumphed at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton following two late goals from substitute Gabrielle Onguene in a chaotic match that featured 24 minutes of added time.
