The first set of games at the 2010 African Women's Football Championship wrapped up this afternoon in South Africa.
World Cup qualifying
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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.
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 Fortune has withdrawn from the University of Texas after being called up to the Brazilian Women's National Team to compete at the 2010 Sudamericano Femenino, CONMEBOL's 2011 World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.