The senior national women’s team, the Black Queens, will take on the Twiga Stars of Tanzania in their final Group C fixture of the ongoing Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), needing nothing short of a victory to stand a chance of qualifying for the next stage.
The Black Queens find themselves in a tight corner with just one point from two games after losing to South Africa 2-0 in the opening match and drawing 1-1 with Mali, leaving them at the bottom of Group C heading into today’s game.
Another setback today, and head coach Kim Lars Bjorkegren and his charges will be heading home, something he says he is strongly guarding against.
Speaking ahead of today’s game, he expressed confidence in Ghana’s chances of qualifying for the quarterfinals, noting that if the team replicates its performance against Mali today, they will advance to the next stage.
“If we perform like we did against Mali again, I’m sure that we are going to win today’s game and probably reach the quarterfinals,” he stated.
While lamenting his team’s wastefulness in front of goal, which has left his side winless in two games, he emphasised the need to be cleaner inside the box to overcome their opponents. This is an area they have focused on since Friday’s match.
“We were hoping to score more goals in our last game; we had enough chances to do that. Going forward, we aim to score more goals, and I know we will,” Bjorkegren added.
The Twiga Stars proved they would not be easy pushovers with a hard-fought 1-1 draw against defending champions, South Africa, even while playing with 10 players.
Comfort Yeboah and Anasthesia Achiaa will need to guard against the surging runs and crosses from Ester Marwa, Diana Msewa, and Enekia Lunyamila on the flanks, while, central defenders, Susan Ama Duah and Portia Boakye, must keep a close watch on Stumai Athumani and Clement Opa Tukumbuke to prevent them from causing havoc in front of goal.
The Tanzanians showed tremendous resilience against the defending champions and will be hoping to replicate that performance while converting better chances this time to stand a chance of advancing.
A win over Tanzania would put Ghana in line to progress to the quarterfinals of the Women’s AFCON for the first time since 2016
BY RAYMOND ACKUMEY