Group: A (Second Round)
Match: Ghana vs Mali
Venue: Accra Stadium
Referee: Leticia Antonella Viana (eSwatini)
Kickoff: 15:30 GMT
Hosts Ghana will be seeking to seal qualification to the last four of the 2018 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (AWCON) when they come up against Mali in the second round of fixtures for Group A on Tuesday, November 20.
Ghana began their campaign with a narrow win over their Algerian opponents whilst Mali lost their opener against Cameroon. The Black Queens for most parts of their opener bossed play and restricted their opponents from playing and will be seeking to produce a carbon copy against the Les Aiglonnes.
Mali gave a decent showing of themselves in their opener against Cameroon as well even though they failed to win. A momentary lapse in concentration enabled Cameroon to put two quick-fire goals past them after they had taken the lead. The Malians, who have never made it out of the group stage at the AWCON, will be hoping to turn the tides of their campaign with a win against Ghana.
Both sides have met at the AWCON on three previous occasions with the Black Queens winning all the encounters. Mali have scored just once in the three games while Ghana have six goals to their credit. The most recent game was at the last AWCON in Cameroon where the Queens won 3-1. All three scorers – Linda Eshun, Samira Suleman and Elizabeth Addo remain in the Ghana squad and are likely to start on Tuesday.
The Black Queens would secure a place in the last four with victory over Les Aiglonnes, whilst Mali will be heading back home to Bamako should they fail to secure a point in the game with coach Bashir Hayford’s side.
TEAM NEWS:
Mali will be hoping to have midfielder Bintou Koite fit in time for the clash against Ghana.
Koite was excellent in the opener and showed great touches whenever she had the ball at her feet. However, the midfielder is in a race against time to be fit for the second match after she was substituted in the opener having picked up an injury. Koite was one of the bright spots in the Malian side and if passed fit against the Black Queens could cause a lot of problems for the Ghanaians.
Ghana on the other hand went through their opener unscathed and would have no injury issues to worry about. Coach Bashir Hayford will however be expected to make changes to his side as both striker Samira Suleiman and captain Elizabeth Addo failed to make their presence felt in their opener.
Substitutes Grace Asantewaa and Jane Ayieyam who replaced the above mentioned duo in the opener will be pushing for a starting berth in the second game after they put in excellent shifts following their introduction
MANAGERS’ THOUGHTS:
Coach Bashir Hayford expressed his dissatisfaction at the spectator turn out on the opening day. Hayford emphasizing on the need for fans to fill the stands said the dead can’t play football that is why the stadium should not be as quiet as the cemetery.
He said: “Spectators are very critical to every team that is why you don’t see Awudome XI playing Mile 11 XI [both locations for cemetery in Ghana’s capital Accra]. We want people to come and cheer the team up because we are living. And so the cheering and the ‘booing’ will motivate them [Black Queens] so that they can play very well.”
Mali Coach Mohammed Houssein admitted his side were tired and that allowed Cameroon a chance back into the game. However, they have learnt their lessons and would be better for their second game.
He said: “We’ve learnt our lessons from our loss to Cameroon which was due to fatigue. But going forward, we shall improve. We have worked on it at training and we are looking forward to the Ghana game.”
He continued saying “the game against Ghana will be very tough for us because anything short of a victory and we become the first team to exit the competition and that will not be good for our image. So we know what is at stake and the how to tackle it.”
“We have so much respect for the Ghana team and expect a tough game. We will give them a good match a sell a great game to the fans and the rest of Africa come tomorrow.”
The Ghana-Mali encounter is scheduled for 15:30 GMT kickoff at the Accra Sports Stadium.
