From touting his side as the best at the 2018 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations just almost a week ago, Ghana coach Bashir Hayford came expressing disappointment by their inability to advance from the group stage.
The tournament hosts were bundled out Friday following a 1-1 stalemate with highly-tipped Cameroon at the Accra Sports Stadium.
The Black Queens, with four points after beating Algeria 1-0 and losing 2-1 to Mali in the first two games, could only place third on the Group A table.
Speaking at post-match, a crest-fallen Hayford admitted Ghana’s best was just not enough on the day.
He said: “We did our best but our best was not enough for the day. We played a tough game – in terms of physique, tactics, everything.
“The result is what people will consider as not good because we wanted to qualify. We drew 1-1, and we saw how their equalizer came. It’s all part of the game. So we accept and move forward.
“I don’t want to take anything from the Cameroonians. They played very well and they’re a tough side. But my girls also played very well.”
The Black Queens, for the successive game, were undone by poor goalkeeping as replacement goalkeeper Nana Ama Asantewaa who started her first game, moved out of her lines to give away a very poor penalty. The spot kick saw Christine Manie converting to cancel out Ghana’s lead which came through a Portia Boakye free-kick.
Sounding religious, the Ghana coach retorted: “Mistakes are all part of the game, so if a mistake came and they [Cameroon] capitalized on the mistake, we thank God for that.”
NO BLAME GAME
“I don’t normally put defeat on the doorstep of a player. We came as a team, played as a team and lost as a team,” said a sober Bashir Hayford.
“We never spoke about goalkeeping [problem] after the first match. We have been encouraging them. We don’t want to kill their spirit. That is football, it’s all about mistakes.
“You commit mistakes, they punish you. So I will not say that my goalkeepers are not good or they’re that. We lost as a team,” he added.
