That mutual support was necessary during their teenage years when their parents, who have always backed their football dreams, divorced.

While living with their father they were forced to use their initiative on the streets of Freetown to make ends meet.

“Things were hard for us at some points,” Alusine said.

“My brother and I decided to do something just to survive while going to school.

“We were fetching water, putting it into jerrycans and selling it to people in our community. We were also going around collecting used [scrap] iron and sold it.”

According to Alhassan, their bond has been key to their football careers – which were largely spent together until Alhassan moved to a Qatari club last year.

“We love each other so much that we never wanted to be separated,” he explained.

“When a Spanish club, Real Balompedica Linense, wanted to sign me in 2019 I told them that I would only accept their offer on the condition that they also signed my twin brother.

“They told me to sign the contract and assured me that my brother would join me in Spain a few months later – which he did.”

Key moments in their careers have been shared, with the brothers making their first senior appearances, top-flight bows and international debuts in the same games.

Years of playing together has forged an innate understanding on the pitch.

“I can read his mind and he can read mine,” insisted Alusine.

“When I have the ball my brother knows what I’ll do with it and what he should do, so the first person I look out for to give a pass is him.

“We’re protective of each other too. When one is fouled by an opponent the other gets concerned.

“We’ve been fighting for each other since childhood and the pitch is not an exception.”

Five of the 12 current WSL teams play in the capital – Arsenal, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Tottenham and West Ham – while London City Lionesses moved to Hayes Lane in the summer, home of men’s League Two club Bromley, in the summer.

London City Lionesses have also relocated their training facilities to Aylesford in Kent, and Zubizarreta believes the club’s set-up is worthy of top-tier football.

“If you only invest in players but not staff or facilities it doesn’t make sense. It has to be at the same level,” he said.

“The facilities we have are impressive. The first time I arrived at the training centre, I know all the ones in Spain and it’s much better than even the training centre of Barcelona. Any player can be attracted to this environment.

“We need to put everything in the correct place, but we want to invest and give the first team very good facilities so they can improve, and the correct space for the academy to work with the young girls who at the beginning only want to play football.

“Let’s see if we can bring some of them to the first team.”

With captain Seamus Coleman sidelined, Nathan Collins will continue to stand in as skipper.

The Brentford defender took the armband for the closing stages of the England game after Coleman limped off before and retained captaincy duties against Greece.

“I probably didn’t take in the moment as much as I should have, but that’s just the way I am,” Collins, 23, said of deputising for Coleman last month.

“My family did – I think they were crying in the stand. Honestly, it means a lot to me and my family.”

Collins, who has started all seven of Brentford’s Premier League games this season, added: “I think in this camp, it’s really easy being a captain of this team as there are so many leaders. I could go through this team and you could name six or seven boys who would help me out, chip in, talk, motivate, and it makes my job easier.

“We’re missing a few of the older boys, past leaders, and it is time for boys to step up and time for us to start showing our leadership.”

Ghana will face Nigeria for a place at the 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN) after the West African rivals were paired together at the qualifying draw on Wednesday.

The sides also met ahead of the 2022 finals, with Ghana qualifying via a penalty shoot-out following a 2-2 draw on aggregate.

The 42 entrants for the 2024 tournament, which is for domestic-based players on the continent, have been split into six regional zones.

Five of the zones will provide three qualifiers each but the Cecafa region has been handed a fourth space because Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda will all be involved in the preliminaries despite qualifying automatically as joint hosts.

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) says the team “achieving the best result in the Cecafa qualifiers” will advance.

As a result the finals, which will be held from 1-28 February next year, will feature 19 teams – an increase on the 18-team 2022 edition.

The format of the tournament is yet to be announced.

The two rounds of regional qualifiers will take place on a home-and-away basis, with the second round ending on 27-29 December.

Two-time winners Morocco, 2011 champions Tunisia and 2014 winners Libya are the only entrants from the North African region, so are all guaranteed a place at the finals.

CHAN holders Senegal will face either Sierra Leone or Liberia in the second round of qualifying.

Caf has increased the prize money from the previous edition by 60%, with the winners of the 2024 finals set to receive $2m (£1.53m).

The staging of the 2024 CHAN finals in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda is being seen as a test event before the East African neighbours host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.

Guardiola, 53, and Begiristain, 60, have a long association, having played alongside each other for Barcelona and Spain.

Begiristain became director of football at Barcelona in 2003 and was influential in Guardiola being named the Spanish giants’ manager in 2008.

“When nobody else would take a risk on me, when maybe three per cent of the people at Barca believed in me, he was the one who insisted on my appointment to the first team,” Guardiola said previously., external

“None of this would have been possible without him.”

It is why Begiristain’s exit could be seen as the start of the break-up of the Catalan inspired success at City, which includes chief executive Ferran Soriano, who also used to work at Barcelona.

Begiristain left Barcelona in 2010 and took up the director of football role at Manchester City two years later, before being reunited with Guardiola in 2016.

Speaking in 2021 about Begiristain, Guardiola said of their relationship: “He is the most humble person I ever met. He never goes to the media. Always, the success is for the other ones. He is always behind the scenes.

“You don’t find these type of people in this world because their egos are always so high – and I put myself as an example [of that].

“He always gives the credit to the players, to the manager, for the chairman, and the chief executive.

“That’s why it’s a pleasure working with him because I can do my job completely free, accepting the good moments and the bad moments and sharing together.

“In the bad moments we are closer than ever and in good moments we celebrate together with a glass of wine.”

The addition of Lee Bonis to the Northern Ireland squad would appear to be a direct consequence of his goalscoring exploits for his new club ADO Den Haag in recent weeks as the former Irish League striker has settled in at his new club, culminating in that treble on Friday evening.

Northern Ireland’s strikers have found goals hard to come by, so the inclusion of the in-form Bonis, despite being untested at international level, adds some more potential firepower for boss Michael O’Neill while he awaits international clearance for prolific Ross County forward Ronan Hale.

Callum Marshall, Dion Charles, Josh Magennis and Jamie Reid, the strikers named in the original squad, have scored just 15 goals in 109 games for the national side.

O’Neill will be hoping for no further injury absentees, having already had to plan without first-choice goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell and defender Dan Ballard, while still getting accustomed to life without Manchester United’s Jonny Evans, who has retired from international football.

Balmer also moved from Larne to ply his trade in the professional game in England, and now Scotland. He is another in the latest of a number of promising young players keen to impress the NI boss and make his way on the international stage.