Ghana’s Black Queens risk qualifying for the biannual African Women Championship (AWC) later this year after a one all draw game with the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon at the Accra Stadium on Saturday.
The the final qualifier saw the visitors’, one of Africa’s representatives in the July London Olympic Games scoring first through Mihamle Iven Adrienne before Ghana’s Captain Florence Okoe pulled even.
A goalless draw or a loss in a fortnight in Cameroon could end the Queen’s dream of answering the roll call in the tournament billed for Equatorial Guinea which could take Ghana’s appearance at the competition to eight out of eight.
Playing in front of an impressive crowd, the Queens struggled to impose themselves on the game which Cameroon won the physical battle right from the onset.
Both teams labored to take complete charge of the game with action swinging from one end to the other. After a goalless first half, Ghana began the stronger from recess giving early indication of their intent to grind a decent result, but to no avail.
The Queens began weaving gradually into the visitors half, but Cameroon’s physical presence was always telling. With Portia Boakye looking off colour the entire duration, Okoe and others struggling to hold the midfield, it was obvious, it was going to take something special to grab a win.
Soon, Leticia Zipki was sent through from the middle, but the offensive midfielder deployed as the lead attacker of the day fumbled to control and miscue her effort despite compromised Cameroon goalkeeper Ngo Ndom Annette twice failed attempt to grab the ball at once.
Having survived the invasion, Cameroon broke and a long pass picked out Aboudi Onguene who had ask Edem Atovor at the left back several questions all day. The former, managed to send a cross to advancing Mihamle who towered Janet Egyire to head.
What appeared to be a less challenging header fell to goalkeeper Nana Ama Asantewaa whose lame attempt saw her parrying into her own net in 65th minutes to turn the stadium dead silent.
The Queens had to salvage their campaign and the time was now. With their back against the wall, they staged a fight that yielded fruits 10 minutes on. A free kick at the edge of the Cameroon final third saw Boakye laying one for Okoe to sweep in on the turn.
The celebration that greeted the equalizer was spontaneous, but only lower than the boos that greeted officials who did the pre-match inspection after the inability of the National Sports Authority (NSA) to play the national anthems of both teams forcing the players to sing it all by themselves.**
