Queens, Falcons to set Abuja ablaze

Abuja, March 14, GNA - Ghana's Black Queens go into action against Nigeria's Super Falcons on Saturday in a battle of heavyweights whose outcome determines who picks the continent's automatic slot for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games later in the year.

The Queens, who have beaten the Falcons only twice, go into Saturday's duel as underdogs needing just a draw to answer their first roll call at the quadrennial summit.

Ghana leads the three-team table with nine points and has come the closest to qualifying for the competition while the Nigerians have two appearances.

With Nigeria favoured, Ghana will have to dig deep into the archives and find that resilience and power to silence the Falcons, whom they defeated 1-0 in the African Women Championship in Warri in 2002, to have any realistic chance of traveling to China.

The stakes are high for both teams rated first and second on the continent.

Nigeria as usual starts as favourites in the duel pundits believe could easily pass as a final of an African Championship and the Queens are optimistic about their chances.

The game would undoubtedly be a cagey one knowing the pedigree of both sides and the rivalry that exits between the two countries in football.

When both sides met in Accra last August, it was that own goal from Lillian Cole that separated them in a game that was engulfed with wits, tension, power, skill and flair in front of an often partisan home crowd.

The Queens are expected to be up against two major forces in search of that slot.

Ghana's skipper Adjoa Bayor and her colleagues would come up against experienced folks like Perpetua Nkwacha and reigning African football Queen, Cynthia Uwak who would be looking for the opening in defence for a place in Africa's number one goalkeeper, Memunatu Sulemanu who so often remains the Nigerians' nightmare. With the battle lines well drawn, none could afford to make mistakes.