Stage: Third Place Play-off
Match: Cameroon vs Mali
Venue: Cape Coast Stadium
Referee: Maria RIVET (Mauritius)
Kickoff: 16:00 GMT
It’s a repeat of the opening Group A game between Cameroon and Mali. After their semi-final heartbreaks, both nations must recompose themselves for what might be the most competitive third place game yet in football at the Cape Coast Stadium on Friday, November 30.
Not only is bronze medal at stake, but, another ticket to the 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup is up for grabs and neither of the sides will let slip the chance to France – a needed tonic to power the two deflated sides.
It was more of the same when Cameroon went head to head against Nigeria in the semifinal. Cameroon, this time, very close, lost 4-2 on penalties after the regulation time had ended 0-0. The other semifinal game went in the favour of South Africa, with a 2-0 win, the Banyana Banyana side, propounded a bag of humiliation on Mali to grab a historic qualification to the World Cup.
Cameroon, after crawling back to grab a 2-1 win against Mali in the opening Group A game, will want to replicate same performance. Mali seek something rather contrary to what transpired at the end of the 90 minutes in their previous meeting which will result to a maiden ticket to the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Les Lionnes Indomptables are unbeaten in four outings against Les Aiglonnes. Mali’s best result against Cameroon has been a 2-2 draw – Cameroon have snatched three wins against Mali, including a 2-1 win, which happened two weeks ago.
Team News
Both managers are heading into this game with a full house. Not an injury or suspension to worry about
But Cameroon boss Joseph Ndocko will hope his striker Gaelle Enganamouit is mentally ready for the crucial game after learning that her home was vandalized by angry fans as a result of her missed penalty in the defeat to Nigeria.
Managers’ Thoughts
Cameroon head coach, Joseph Brian Ndocko, in his pre-match press conference, spoke of the need to quickly adjust to the climate in Cape Coast, a new environment for his side who had based in Accra throughout their stay in Ghana
“We are here in Cape Coast and the climate is different from that of Accra. Since we are here already we need to adjust and be able to going into the 3rd place play-off.
“Right now, we have to quickly adapt to our new target of qualifying to the World Cup. Our initial target was to win the trophy. The crying time is over. We need to get to the next stage so the girls have been conscientize what is ahead of us and I think the outcome will be decided on the field.
“We are not expecting too much. We just want to see a well elaborated game tomorrow and we wait until the 90 minutes. Because until after the final whistle we can’t really tell much. We score quick goals but it might also change in the course of the game or afterwards,” he stated.
Mali Coach Mohamed Saloum Houssein is aware of the big task at stake and has quickly reorganized how to play Cameroon.
“We conscientized ourselves for the game against Cameroon. We know what is at stake so we started preparing hard immediately after the South African fixture.
“Of course, we very optimistic for this game. When we played against Cameroon in the group stage we all saw what happened. We lost 2-1 and learned lessons from it. We have identified the mistakes in the defense and we are working towards in order to gain more strength there. I have to make it clear that the group stage game is different from this particular one (3rd place play-off). They are not the same. We have seen improvements in both teams so we wait for the pitch to decide the winner.
“Mali’s main objective was to make it to the next round of the tournament (semi-finals) which has never happened in history. We are satisfied because we have been to inscribe our names in the record books. We want to do more and if the women are first to make it to the World Cup ahead of the men, then that’s a plus for us. We will then fight till the end of the tournament because we are optimistic anything can happen”.
