Sanford to the rescue of women’s football
The issue of women's football suffering from the no-cash syndrome from the Ministry of Youth and Sports has so been talked about for nearly two decades that it has become boring and to a point irritating to talk or write about it in yearly reviews.
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National teams have been at the receiving end, organising the game on the local scene has also not been spared, though female footballers are showing so much promise giving hope that there certainly will be a bright light at the end of the tunnel.
Generally a difficult year financially for the Ghana Football Association (GFA) due to the lack of a major sponsor, women's football also bore the brunt and its programme of activities for the season was under threat.
However, Sanford Women's World Clinics handed the sport a lifeline, providing women's football with its first sponsor of any kind as it gave life to the FA Cup with a package of GH¢200,000.
Despite the potential women's football has in also placing Ghana among the world's greats in the sport, the inability of those in authority to plan and find a solution to the cash problem, made the expected excellence of women's football at the international level a mirage.
The never-ending excuse of 'no money' for training for national teams, long outstanding bonuses due players probably got to the ladies who seemed to have had enough & decided to register their displeasure over such shabby treatment by going on demonstration on the premises of the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
The action may not have achieved the intended result of the players getting their outstanding bonuses paid immediately, but it sure added to the list of embarrassing incidents the nation had had to endure due to 'no cash.' Indeed, some international media, who reported the Black Queens' demonstration, said they had picked a cue from the Black Stars at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
The year under review was as eventful as it was significant for women's football both at home and on the international scene.
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All three national teams qualified and competed in their respective competitions, the Under-17 side were in Jordan for the FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup (WWC), the Black Princesses took part in the Under-20 WWC in Papua New Guinea with the senior team, the Black Queens, also travelling to Cameroun for the Africa Women's Championship (AWC).
The Maidens, who started poorly against Japan, recovered from a group that included USA and Paraguay to advance to the quarter-finals where they were beaten by eventual tournament winners, North Korea.
Disappointed, Coach Evans Adotey's charges were, however, not embarrassed as they gave good accounts of themselves and captain, Sandra Owusu-Ansah proved her potential, winning the Player of the Match in two group games, as well as having her goal nominated for the Best Goal of the competition.
The Princesses still could not break the jinx of the group stage exit as their dream and target of at least reaching the quarter-finals for the first time in their four consecutive appearances did not materialise.
For the Princesses, it was more of a psychological problem than technical as they played well and at a point looked good to sail through in their games but lost in the final moments, particularly against New Zealand, where they conceded late to lose 0-1, and also against France, where they blew a 2-1 lead to draw 2-2 very late in the game.
After a botched 2014 campaign in Namibia, the Queens had been hopeful of finally winning their first AWC title as they headed for Cameroun.
Unfortunately, with the likes of record title winners, Nigeria and hosts, Cameroun also challenging, it was always going to be a tough task for the Queens.
In the end, they finished third, beating South Africa 1-0 in that game after losing the semi-final 0-1 to Cameroun.
At the group stage, the Queens beat Kenya 3-1, drew 1-1 with Nigeria who retained the title in the final and also won 3-1 against Mali in Group B.
Though there was no stand-out performance from the Queens, defender Linda Eshun had a good tournament, scoring two important goals, the equaliser against Mali before the game ended 3-1 and also the only goal against South Africa. Apart from her goals, Linda also showed her versatility in defence playing at different positions as assigned her.
Elizabeth Addo, made the captain at the 11th hour, proved her mettle, literally carrying the team on her shoulders and no doubt she was named in CAF Best XI as well as a nomination for the Best Female Footballer of the Year for this year's CAF Awards.
The set target not achieved, Coach Yussif Basigi and his team could return home proud, given that they did not get the best of preparations towards the Cameroun campaign and also the fact that in 2014, with all the stars on parade, they were eliminated at the group stage.
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Ghana was also confirmed as the hosts of the 2018 competition when the CAF Flag for hosts was handed over to the Ghana delegation at the final.
It was, therefore, disappointing that such a good show had to end in an anti-climax — a demonstration by the players to demand what had been promised them should they meet set targets.