Fourth at home
WITH A 1-0 VICTORY over the Morocco on Saturday, Algeria was proclaimed winner of the first official Arab Women's Soccer Championship. The 10-day tournament in Alexandria had seven teams taking part: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt represented Arab Africans and Syria, Palestine and Jordan as the Arabs of Asia.
The seven teams were divided into two groups. The North Africans dominated, as Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and hosts Egypt reached the semi-finals.
"The result was expected," Sahar El-Hawari, in charge of Egyptian women's football, said, adding the result was normal for North African teams.
"They started playing the game a long time ago and have more experience playing international and African matches. The Arab teams of Asia are still new at the sport, but they are going in the right direction.
"They were very brave to participate in the tournament, their first official championship, and I believe they did a good job and have definitely gained experience from meeting stronger teams like the North Africans," said El-Hawari, who is also a FIFA member on the women's committee and board member in the Egyptian Football Association.
Hosts Egypt was denied a place in the final after it was beaten by the Moroccans, while the Tunisians lost to the eventual winners Algeria in the other semi-final. However, Tunisia made it up by taking third place after edging Egypt 2-1 in the play-off match for third and fourth place.
"It was a good result for the Egyptians despite the loss," El-Hawari said.
"We trained a lot before the tournament and played two international friendlies in Cairo against a German team. However, our girls were unlucky in the semi-final."
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