TIRANA, April 11 – Albanian women claimed their first World Cup qualifying campaign victory this week as they beat Belarus with a late winner to avenge their first-leg away defeat.
Midfielder Lucie Gjini gave Albania a long-awaited first win just two minutes before injury time when she netted from close range at a time when the game was heading for a goalless draw.
The victory against Belarus is the second consecutive positive result Albanian women have claimed at the World Cup qualifying campaign following a draw away to Poland earlier on April 6 and five defeats in a row in the late 2017 group stage matches.
Having played seven games, Albania now find themselves rank fourth in Group 2, with four points, one more than bottom ranked Belarus, but trailing group leaders Switzerland by 11 points and mathematically out of the 2019 World Cup with only one game left to play and their rivals having at least two games in hand.
“The draw with Poland would have been worthless without this victory. I believe it was the self-confidence and the team play that led to this victory,” said Albania’s coach Armir Grima.
“This national side is promising. We don’t pretend to work wonders in women’s football, but we will gradually grow and continue to play decently as in the past few years,” he added.
Albania will play their final qualifying campaign game at home against second-placed Scotland who beat them 5-0 in the first-leg encounter. The game against Scotland, who have so far played only four qualifying round matches in Group 2, is scheduled for September 4.
Albanian women progressed to their first-ever World cup qualifying round after a historic preliminary round victory with Greece with an injury time winner in April 2017. Albania earlier beat Kosovo 3-2 in a small derby of Albanian roots considering that most of the Albania national side players are of Kosovo origin and was held to a goalless draw by Malta.
The qualification to the group stage was a major success for the Albanian women’s national side, only six years after their debut. Albania has had a professional women’s national championship since 2009.
The 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be held in France being the eighth tournament since the inaugural 1991 Women’s World Cup in China.
