Nigeria’s female national team, Super Falcons have permutations to line out against Cameroon or Mali in the semi-finals of this year’s Africa Women’s Cup of Nations in Ghana.
Sports247.ng reports that the Falcons already knew before their last group match against Equatorial Guinea what to do to avoid the stronger team in the AWCON 2018 last four.
Heading into Saturday’s final clash with two-time champions, Equatorial Guinea, the Falcons knew that finishing second in Group B would take them up against first placed Cameroon from Group A, which could be a tougher tie than facing runners-up, Mali.
However, while Cameroon and Mali moved on to await Nigeria, the host nation, Ghana failed to qualify for the knockout stage on home-soil after crashing out on Friday.
Needing a win over the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon in their final Group A match, the Black Queens faltered, playing a 1-1 draw.
Mali went from behind to beat Algeria 3-2 to clinch the second semi-final spot behind Cameroon, while The Queens finished third in the group with four points and Algeria fourth with no points.
Portia Boakye broke the deadlock of the game when her free-kick zoomed into the net of the Cameroonians in the 28th minute.
Cameroon responded quickly when a seemingly harmless ball sent into the 18-yard box of the hosts saw the Ghanaian goalkeeper, Nana AmaAsantewaa move out of her goal line to foul an on-rushing Lioness player.
The referee awarded a penalty against the Queens and Manie Christine Patience converted the to give the Cameroonians the equaliser in the 40th minute.
The second half of the game failed to produce plenty goal scoring chances, but the best chance fell the way of Linda Eshun in the added minute of play after Boakye’s well-calculated pass found her, yet the former’s feeble shot was grabbed by Cameroon keeper Annette Ndom.
