body-container-line-1
17.05.2011 Women Football

Princesses Ditch Nigeria In AAG Qualifier

By Rosalind Amoh - Daily Graphic
Ecstatic Black Princesses celebrate their qualification to the September All Africa Games after a 2-1 win over Nigeria.Ecstatic Black Princesses celebrate their qualification to the September All Africa Games after a 2-1 win over Nigeria.
17.05.2011 LISTEN

Three goals in 90 minutes — a tale of two halves which mostly kept specators on tenterhooks — yesterday characterised Ghana and Nigeria’s renewed football rivalry which in the end saw Ghana prevailing 2-1 to record one of the rare victories over Nigeria at the El Wak Stadium in Accra.

Ghana’s national Under-20 female side came from behind to dethrone the defending All Africa Games (AAG) champions with a 3-2 aggregate win to qualify for this year’s event to be staged in Maputo in September.

A 60th minute curling free kick from Faiza Ibrahim and an 88th minute penalty kick from Rosemary Ampem ensured that Princesses ended the dream of Nigeria, who came to Accra very confident of beating Ghana yet again, even in their own backyard.

After the 1-1 first leg draw, Nigeria showed up for the second leg with their full World Cup squad, including goalkeeper Precious Dede, Africa’s Best Player Perpetua Nkwocha, and wingers Stella Mbachu and Rita Chikwelu.

The Falcons made their intentions of winning clear as early as the ninth minute when Nkwocha gave them the lead, expertly placing the ball after going past her markers.

The Princesses were stunned by that goal and could not get out of the shock, allowing the Nigerians to dictate the game in almost the entire first half.

But the second half was a different story as Portia Boakye, one of the three ladies roped in by Coach Kuuku Dadzie to strengthen his team, and the player of the match, literally carried the team on her shoulders and piled pressure on the Nigerians.

That paid off and earned the Ghanaians a free kick which Faiza Ibrahim chose a rather difficult position to take. Against all odds, she curled the ball which beat goalkeeper Dede for the equaliser.

That restored the confidence of the Princesses, and two changes that Coach Dadzie made also worked in the team’s favour. He pulled out Edem Atovor for Linda Addai and Agnes Aduako for Elizabeth Addo and those brought some bite in the team’s output.

At different times, Boakye, Ibrahim and Grace Asare all took turns to make serious incursions against the Nigerians who surprisingly caved in as the minutes ticked by. It was a matter of time for the second goal. They were denied that chance when Boakye’s long range kick grazed the cross bar while Ibrahim’s shot also missed.

The Nigerians tried to get back into the game and almost had a second when goalkeeper Nana Ama Asantewaa feebly handled the ball which almost rolled into the net but for the timely clearance by Janet Egyir.

With two minutes of regular time and two minutes of added time left to play, Ibrahim boldly took on three markers, bullishly beat them and goalkeeper Dede who was off her line, had no option but to foul her. The Senegalese referee who was close by, pointed to the spot, sending thunderous cheers among the fans.

Ampem elected to effect the kick, and with Asamoa Gyan’s 2010 World Cup miss against Uruguay still fresh in many minds, thousands of eyes and hearts watched with baited breadth. Ampem confidently slot the ball past Dede who was left scrambling on the pitch but sent the fans into spontaneous celebrations.

Of course, the victory was a great relief to stakeholders in Ghana football as the AAG remains the only international competition Ghana can still participate in this year as the other national teams failed in their bid for their respective competitions.

body-container-line