2018 WAFCON:

Cameroon Face Nigeria in Semis

The Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon will face the Super Falcons of Nigeria in the semi finals of the 2018 Women’s African Nations Cup currently being staged in Ghana. The Lionesses picked their ticket for the semis after securing 7 points to top their group in the group stage of the competition.

                They beat Mali and Algeria in their first two games before pulling a draw with hosts Ghana in the third and last group game.

                Hosts, Ghana were bundled out of the tournament, after they collected just four points in three games. They came behind Mali that harvested six points to qualify for the semis alongside Cameroon.

                In the other pool, Nigeria occupied second position, behind South Africa. The Super Falcons will thus meet the Lionesses while the Banyana Banyana of S.A will face Mali.

                In their last Group A game against Ghana, the Black Queens opened play by dominating much of the first half of the game. With the emphatic gestures and manoeuvres of the team led by Captain Elizabeth Addo, the Ghanaian ladies mounted pressure on the Cameroonian side and in three different occasions, through free kicks and onside shots came close to scoring, but for some clinical saves from long serving Cameroonian goalkeeper, Annette Ngo Ndom.

                However, their pressure paid-off at the 27 minutes following a monumental error from keeper, Ngo Ndom as she tried to deflect the ball from a Portia Boakye’s free kick. With their desperation to win the match which was synonymous to qualification for the semis, the Black Queens tightened their defence and continued on their offensive move until a penalty from a goalkeeping error cost them the game.

The keeper tried to stop striker, Gabriel Onguene and gave away a penalty in the process. The penalty was later transformed into a goal by team Captain, Christine Manie.

                At halftime, the match was one goal each way. Upon resumption, the Black Queens continued in their domination which was punctuated with some daring moves from the Cameroonian site.

                However, the replacement of strikers, Gaelle Enganamouit and Aboudi Onguene by Ngo Mbeleck and Therese Akaba at the last minutes slightly tilted the game in favour of the Lionesses who missed many scoring opportunities thanks to the timely intervention of the Ghana keeper, Patricia Mantey

                At the close of the match it was one goal on either side which put Cameroon at the top of the group with seven points, followed by Mali (six points) which had just beaten Algeria by 3 goals to 2.

                Speaking in a pre-match press conference, striker, Raissa Feudjio, said they came to improve on their previous performances.

                In the last AWCON hosted by Cameroon, the Indomitable Lionesses finished second after losing at the finals to the Super Falcons of Nigeria.