Adjoa Bayor is on top of her game

05 October 2004, Raymond - Pretoria- Bayor remains, for many observers of the continental women's game, the finest and most versatile midfield offensive in Africa.

That has proved problematic during the 4th African Women's Champions in ohannesburg, with her form suffering a dip or blowing hot and cold.

Bayor was diplomatic when asked to comment about her contribution to the Black Queens bronze medal which they won in Johannesburg.

She says: "I played my part in a small contribution but I was disappointed with the over all performance of the squad.

We came here to win the trophy but we were shocked by Cameroon during the semi-finals where they beat us 1-0."Bayor revealed that most of the players she played with did not know how she played.

Hence our poor outing against Cameroon and Ethiopia in the semi-finals and the play-offs games.

"When I get the ball and my team-mate makes a good run into space, I pass to her immediately to ensure our offensive is potent. But as you may have noticed, most of the times when I get the ball, my team-mates failed to run into space.

This made me to dribble and as I continuously did that, I got tired," she said.

The 25-year old Bayor said she was happy Ghana finished third.

"It would have been a disaster in Ghana had we finished fourth. I am happy with my over all performance and hopefully, we shall regroup and assemble a potent squad that can challenge for honours in the 2006 edition of African Women Champions."

Bayor said many fans felt the chill in the wind when Ghana bomb out in the semi-finals but that is football. "It's not mathematics, therefore you can't predict the score line until the final whistle."

Bayor, who scored a goal for Ghana when Ghana beat Zimbabwe 2-0 to ensure a clean slate in the round-robin phase said African women's soccer was improving and in the foreseeable future, they can be world beaters.

She hailed her goalkeeper and captain Sulemana Memunatu as an inspirational figure, whose presence helped boost the psychological and mental fatigue of the young players.

Ghana played a very poor game against Ethiopia during the third and fourth play-offs but Bayor attributed their dismal display to what she described as "inexperienced."

On her future, Bayor said her imminent departure to Hamburg FC In Germany will help hone her skills.

"The training facilities and everything is world class and I guess that can contribute to the development of my game."

Bayor plays now for Ghana Telkom's Ladies FC in Accra.

Although not wanting to be seen as sounding sour grapes after their 1-0 loss to Bayor conceded after their loss to Cameroon that the team spirit was destroyed.

"It could have been better had we beaten Cameroon to face Nigeria. We felt we would meet Nigeria in the finals but it was not meant to be. After all we are the only country in Africa to have beaten Nigeria 1-0 before," she added.