Ahead of second round World Cup qualifiers: Cameroon U17 Lionesses beat Éclair in friendly ahead of Ethiopia clash Saturday.

The youngster, who was on Friday February 28 emerged as Revelation of The Year during the Cameroon Ballon d’Or Awards 2024, put up an impressive performance in the game.

The test game against Éclair Filles, marked the major highlight of more than two weeks of preparations by the Cameroon selection in the build up to Ethiopia clash.

Before the victory over Éclair, the U17 Lionesses had played a 2-2 draw with multiple Guinness Super League champions, Lekie Filles on Saturday March 1. 

The game was the team’s first high profile friendly since the players and staff of the selection resumed camping on February 13, at the CAF Center of Excellence in Mbankomo in the outskirt of Yaounde. 

Speaking in an interview after Monday’s game, the goalkeeper of the U17 Lionesses team, Jessica Divine Mabou said the match enabled her to get back into competitive form and correct the errors that she made last month when Cameroon faced Egypt in the first round of the qualifiers. 

“The goal for me was to correct the mistakes that I made in the last match. We had to play simple, just like the coach asked us to,” Mabou said. 

The young goalkeeper further stated that their performance in the two friendlies against Lekie Filles and Éclair of Sa’a has given them room to correct their errors and get ready for the upcoming match.

Éclair Filles head coach, Francis Koloko Motema told reporters after Monday’s friendly that he is confident that the girls will perform excellently when they take on the East Africans on Saturday. 

“I am happy to see the progress that the girls have made. I already played against the girls in November last year during the detection of players. I congratulate coach Joseph Ndoko and his staff for the work they have done so far. We wish the Lionesses good luck. We really have to hope for a victory against Ethiopia,” the trainer stated. 

The team last evening held a training session at the Military Stadium in the nation’s capital city, opened to the press.

Cameroon will face Ethiopia at the Olembe Stadium Saturday March 8 in the first leg, second round of the ongoing African zonal qualifiers to the 2025 Under-17 Women’s World Cup. The match is scheduled to kick off at 7pm.

The second leg of the match will take place at the Abebe Bikila Stadium in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia on March 15. 

The U17 Lionesses qualified for the second round of the ongoing qualification series after registering a comfortable 6-0 aggregate victory over Egypt during the first round. 

In case Cameroon eliminate Ethiopia, the team will face either Uganda or Kenya in the third and final phase of the qualifiers. 

Cameroon has featured in two of the eight editions of the U17 FIFA Women’s World Cup competition since the event was introduced in 2008. 

The two appearances, in back-to-back editions, were in Jordan and Greece in 2016 and 2018 respectively. 

Morocco will play host to the 2025 U17 Women’s World Cup tournament programmed to take place October and November.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3383 of Wednesday March 05, 2025