UNAF Women's Tournament

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UNAF is getting back into women's football – the only event it used to hold consistently was the north African Women's Club Championship, in the late 2000s.

Among national teams, Tunisia are the defending champions in this tournament... but the last one was in 2009 at senior level. Really an age ago - I'd be surprised if Tunisia won it again this time. According to Soccerway, they and Morocco played 2 friendlies in January.

Algeria have announced a 26-player squad on Footalgerien.com (Archive)
Morocco's holding a 3-day training camp in the city of Salé, but no squad list yet.

Inviting guests is sensible, as UNAF only has 5 member countries in total, surely the smallest international 'federation' in world football. Tanzania is an ideal guest nation, really - a good team but not quite AWCON-level. Some Tanzanian players may have been in Algeria in December.

It'll also be interesting to see Mauritania of west Africa, who made a surprising burst into women's soccer in 2019.

Ending the idea that 'girls don't play football in Mauritania'
www.bbc.com/sport/football/49319681 (Archive)

This is UNAF's third women's international tournament in 5 months! Not just because they're so keen, but probably also because Fifa funds a certain number to be held annually. So, we had two similar-looking junior championships, in Oct 2019 and in the last week of 2019.

Morocco became the U20 champions and then Algeria won the U21 event. The latter was disrupted by the early departure of Burkina Faso (who guested in both tournaments), and by a matchday lost due to the state funeral of a famous Algerian army leader. The FAF posted match reports and videos for matchday 1, day 2 and day 3.

 

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Aw, lord, they've gone and changed all the schedules, to add extra excitement

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- (dzfoot.com)
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Matchday 1!​

The guest nations met first:

Tanzania 7 - 0 Mauritania - (Shekigenda 2 goals, Omary 2)

Twiga Stars hammer Mauritania in UNAF women competition
https://www.ippmedia.com/en/sport/twiga-stars-hammer-mauritania-unaf-women-competition (Archive)

The hosts' game was more even, but the visitors ran out with the win:

Tunisia 0 - 1 Morocco - (Sanaâ Mssoudy 63')
Match report: Tunis Afrique Presse (Archive) - InfosFoot (Archive) - Moroccan Royal Football Federation (Archive)

Not many videos - just Tanzania at the ground and a post-match interview. Earlier, the team met the excitable travel vlogger, Bongo Zozo.

Twiga Stars oyeeee! Kila la heri kwenye mechi zenu! Bongo Zozo Tanzania - www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIxc50XSH4Q

 

Highlights - the guest nation's games were partly streamed live

Matchday 2
Algeria 2 - 3 Tanzania
Anissa Dellidj 22', Houria Affak 45' - Mwanahamisi Omary 11', 45'+2, Diana Lucas 90'

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=127861931885065

This was Morocco's toughest game in winning the trophy – TZ got the fastest goal in the competition, but couldn't add another legit strike until it was too late:

Matchday 3
Morocco 3 - 2 Tanzania
Nurimane Adi 8'p, Salma Amani 44', Asmaa Messudi 73' - Omary 1' Singano Gulita 75'
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGo5kNEuxCc&t=7m


Matchday 4
Tunisia 1 - 1 Algeria
Yasmine Djamai 11' - Imène Marouche 21'p
Match report: UNAF (Archive) / CAF (Archive)

Matchday 5
Morocco 2 - 0 Algeria
Ghozlane Chabak 50', Ibtissam Jraidi 86'
Match report: UNAF (Archive)

Morocco took home the impressive trophy. The unbeaten team, captained by Naima Fadil, were honoured with a ceremony by their FA. Good news for that squad prior to the 2020 AWCON qualifiers.
One more game on the last day, with the host nation:

Tunisia 1 - 1 Tanzania​

Mariem Houij 5' - Aisha Masaka 68'
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaJp6cHxzlo

 

...oh, apart from the 3-nation "NAFU", but everyone knows that's just a US/CA/MX match-avoidance scam.

It's weeks later and I'm still impressed!

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