S Africa reach AWCON semis as Nigeria bounce back

Geoffrey Mwamburi in Accra, Ghana

Nigeria got their from their Africa Women Cup of Nations(AWCON) title defence bid back on track with a 4-0 hammering of Zambia at the Cape Coast Stadium in Ghana.

The Super Falcons had gone down 1-0 to South Africa’s Banyana Banyana in their opener on Sunday but dusted off that setback to climb into second in Pool B of the biennial competition.

Desire Ugochi led the rout with a brace with Francisca Ordega and Amarachi Okoronkwo also getting on the scoresheet as Nigeria leapfrogged Zambia in second place.

The final scoreline was a brutal reflection of the game for Zambia who enjoyed a fair share of opportunities in front of goal and were twice denied by the woodwork following efforts from Mary Mwakapila and Grace Chanda.

Zambia coach Bruce Mwape had made two changes from the squad that thrashed Equatorial Guinea 5-0 in Sunday’s opener, resting Judith Zulu and Martha Tembo for Hellen Mubanga and Jackline Nkole and in the end it felt altering the winning combination had work against them.

Meanwhile Equatorial Guinea’s wretched AWCON run rolled on as they suffered another drubbing, lsoing 7-1 to Pool B leaders South Africa later at the same venue in Cape Coast.

Chrestinah Kgatlana scored a brace, while Tiisetso Makhubela, Nompumelelo Nyandeni, Refiloe Jane, Amanda Mthandi, Nompumelelo Nyandeni and Jermaine Seoposenwe each scored one goal in the resounding victory.

The win meant the Banyana Banyana have already qualified for the semi-finals ahead of their last group match against Zambia on Saturday.

Zambia face an uphill task to reach the last four as they must beat South Africa by a big margin and hope Nigeria lose or draw against Equatorial Guinea who have been steamrolled by each team in the group thus far.

Cameroon who have already qualified from Pool A having won both their opening fixtures against Mali (2-1) and Algeria (3-0) while Mali (placed second) and hosts Ghana (third place) will battle it out for the other slot.