Ghana, Nigeria tipped
The result of Match Day Two of Group B has made it 'all to fight for' final group games tomorrow, though pundits' favourites, Nigeria and Ghana, have the edge.
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A draw for both Nigeria and Ghana over Kenya and Mali respectively, will see them go through to the semi-finals as the top two from Group B. But should the results go the other way, it could cost one.
Last Wednesday, the two heavyweights, Nigeria and Ghana, drew 1-1 while Mali revived their chances with a 3-1 victory over Kenya, making their final game against Ghana a bit dicey.
Separated by just a point, a win for Mali will help them advance to the semi-final at the expense of the Queens, a situation the Queens say will not happen.
Stand-in captain, Elizabeth Addo told the Graphic Sports they would only have themselves to blame if the Malians caused their exit from the competition.
"We know it is quite a dicey game as the Malians have a sense of self-belief that they can beat us. They need to win, in the worst scenario, we need just a draw so why should we allow them to overtake us?" Addo, the stand-out player in the Queens setup told the Graphic Sports.
On paper, the Queens look the favourites as the Malians have never beaten them before, but their dramatic comeback from their 0-6 walloping by Nigeria to 3-1 winners against Kenya, certainly, cannot be taken for granted.
"We underestimate them at own peril. They are at this competition on merit and we will have to be wary of them," Coach Yussif Basigi admitted to the Graphic Sports.
Basigi and his team should not just be wary of the Malian threat; they must be equally concerned about how they show up in their performance.
No doubt, they have been good and shown how good they are at comebacks. Perhaps, it is also time they showed their strength in taking and maintaining their lead.
Basigi will have to find on antidote to Mali fluid attackers on the flanks who have been their wings on which they fly, while keeping a tight defence who communicate better.
Importantly, Basigi must get his attackers to look sharper than they have proved to be so far.
Coach Basigi admits his ladies haven't been very impressive but they have gotten the job done and he expects them to'kill it' when they face Mali.
He and his assistants watched the Mali-Kenya game so they know what game plan to adopt to keep their dominance over the Malians who they meet for the third time at the AWC group encounters.
"It is not about playing to impress but to get the results, against Malil, I have instructed the ladies to do what is more important- winning- and I hope they get it done well."
He is likely to stick to his starting line-up against Nigeria, but may bring back Alice Kusi ahead of Safia Abdul-Rahman.
So far, there has been no upset at this competition and hopefully, it will remain so, particularly in Group B.
2016 AWC
Upcoming matches
Group A
Friday, Nov. 25
Zimbabwe v Cameroun (3:00pm)
Egypt v South Africa (3:00pm)
Group B
Saturday, Nov.26
Kenya v Nigeria (6:00pm)
Mali v Ghana (6:00pm)
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