The Black Queens of Ghana has slotted in seven goals against Rwanda’s She-Amavubis to defeat the host nation’s team in the Womens Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) Qualifiers match on Wednesday afternoon at the King Pele stadium in Kigali, Rwanda.
The Black Queens begun their journey to qualify for the WAFCON under Nora Häuptle in similar fashion to their performance in their 1st round Qualifier of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games against Guinea.
Their previous outing saw them claim an emphatic 4-0 victory over Guinea, adding a 3-0 first leg win to make it a resounding 7-0 aggregate score line. Once again, Nora Häuptle’s ladies were up for the tasks at the King Pele Stadium as Ghana made light work of their Rwandan counterparts.
The victory came courtesy of strikes from Doris Boaduwaa, Evelyn Badu, Princella Adubea, Alice Kusi and Anasthesia Achiaa to help the Black Queens outclass Rwanda.
Black Queens Dominance
Nora Häuptle went into her first WAFCON qualifiers as Ghana’s manager with an envious record of 5 wins on the trot. The Swiss manager was hopeful of keeping that run going against Rwanda and her charges were off to a flyer after 2 minutes; Doris Boaduwaa rose highest to knock in a corner to set the tone for the game.
Evans Badu doubled the lead with a lovely rounded finish of the goalkeeper after being played through on goal. Princella Adubea later added Ghana’s third goal on the 27th minute as she headed home from close range.
The Black Queens were in the ascendancy heading into the break. After the resumption of proceedings, Ghana picked up where they left off with a lovely finishing move for the team by Alice Kusi. Evelyn Badu was on hand once again, but this time with a well driven low effort from the edge of the box into the bottom right hand corner to get her second on the day and Ghana’s fifth scoring strike to put the game beyond the She-Amavubis on 64 minutes.
A minute later, the Queens had the opportunity to make it six from the penalty spot but Jennifer Cudjoe placed her shot wide off the left hand post. Cudjoe’s blushes were however soon forgotten as Anasthesia Achiaa pounced on a goalkeeping error to scoop the ball into Rwanda’s net from the edge of the area to make it 6 for Ghana with quarter of an hour to play.
With 5 minutes of regulation time left, the exciting Anasthesia Achiaa put the icing on the cake for Ghana as she cut in on her right foot and swung in a delightful cross from the right hand side, with the ball going over the head of the back peddling goalkeeper and straight into the Rwandan goalpost to see off the She-Amavubis.
The win puts a spring in the step of the Black Queens ahead of the return encounter in Accra on September 26. Nora Häuptle will be hoping to guide Ghana to qualify for the Women’s showpiece following Ghana’s disappointment in the last edition’s qualifier of which they lost to bitter rivals Nigeria by 2-1 over the two legs.
The Black Queens continue their surge under the Swiss head coach as they are yet to concede a goal with a maintenance of 100% win ratio under the Swiss manager. The Queens hope the first leg result will be enough to see them book a spot at Morocco’s 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
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Story by: Andrews Sefa Bamfo | univers.ug.edu.gh
