Black Queens hammer Egypt 4-0 to qualify for 14th WAFCON
GHANA’s Black Queens yesterday sealed qualification for the 2026 Women’s African Cup of Nations (WAFCON) with a 7-0 aggregate win against Egypt’s Cleopatras in the final round of qualifiers played at the Accra Stadium.
An emphatic 4-0 win at the Accra Stadium yesterday, following a 3-0 victory from the first leg in Ismailia last Thursday, ensured that the Queens’ dream of securing a 14th WAFCON appearance remained intact.
A hat-trick from Doris Boaduwaa and Comfort Yeboah’s strike put victory and qualification beyond doubt as the Queens put behind them a difficult build-up to the match, after boycotting training over unpaid bonuses.
Despite the bonus row, the team showed up and delivered the result in style, delighting the few fans who came to the stadium to support them..
While the Cleopatras were not expected to pose a serious threat to the Queen's ambition, Head Coach Kim Lars Bjojorken nonetheless left nothing to chance, making two changes to the starting lineup that won in Egypt, fielding Evelyn Badu and Princess Marfo ahead of Alice Kusi and Stella Nyamekye.
The Queens right from the start, almost found the net with a beautiful set-up from Chantelle Boyr-Hlorkah for Princess Marfo to score, but it was not put to good use, just as their dominance in the first half failed to be productive.
Goals
On the resumption of the game for the second half, the Queens got down to serious work. Boaduwaa, who scored in the first leg, opened the scores again at the Accra Stadium in the 51st minute, taking advantage of a goalkeeping error.
Five minutes later, she scored the second goal and her third in this campaign, finishing off a cross from Marfo.
In the 57th minute, Yeboah registered her name on the score sheet to make it 3-0, squeezing a shot from a rather tight angle.
Boaduwaa, who seems to have put the 2024 WAFCON disappointment behind her, put the icing on the cake to spark off the celebration in the 92nd minute when she lobbed onto a pass from substitute Nyamekye to register her hat-trick and Ghana’s fourth on the day, and in all, her fourth in the campaign.
Having qualified, Ghana will now await the draw for the tournament to be staged in Morocco from March 17 to April 3, next year, which will also serve as a Women’s World Cup qualifier for the 2027 tournament to be staged in Brazil.
