Bayelsa Queens will face hosts ASEC Mimosas of Cote d’Ivoire in the final of the WAFU B Women’s Champions League on Friday, reports Completesports.com.
Whyte Ogbonda’s side rallied to beat USFA of Burkina Faso 2-1 in the semi-final on Tuesday night.
Comfort Yeboah gave USFA the lead after two minutes.
Bayelsa Queens equalised through Emem Essien 13 minutes later.
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Seimeyeha Akekoromowei scored the winning goal for the Nigeria Women Football League, NWFL, champions two minutes after the hour mark.
In the other last four encounter, ASEC Mimosas thrashed Police Ladies of Ghana 4-1.
The final will be played at the Charles Konan Banny Stadium.
Police Ladies, and USFA will battle for third position.
By Adeboye Amosu
8 Comments
Wow! What a match. It was played at WAFCON level, pace and intensity.
That said, to the more discerning eyes, Bayelsa Queens had the more tactical edge.
The Prosperity Ladies manufactured more compelling goals scoring routines so much so that, even when they went down 1 goal due to a horrible case of miscommunication between the goalkeeper and defender, I still had faith they would recover.
The combination of Janet Akekoromowei, Shakirat Moshood
, and Emem Essien up front was electric. They demonstrated a spark great chemistry as the combined beautifully with others around them to keep the opposition on their toes throughout.
All the other players delivered compelling performances, laced with professionalism, poise and panache.
I will pick out Janet Akekoromowei
as my star players. For a big girl, she sure gets around. Never just content as the centre forward, the roams around the entire forward line, looking to pounce, and pounce she did for the winning goal, stalking the ball and blasting home with ferocity.
I will implore those around this girl to advice, develop and guide her. If she stays focused, she will be the next Desire Oparanozie, and then some.
Monle Oyono in goal has to now be considered as heir-apparent to Chiamaka Nnadozie. Though her miscommunication contributed to the first goal, she made up for this mishap with a confident, competent display for the remainder of the match.
Well done to Edo Queens, they will be a force to reckon with in the Champions League proper of they continue on this upward trajectory of tactical integrity and positional discipline.
Edo Queens? Or Bayelsa Queens?
When I saw Etim Essien, I also thought of Edo Queens cos I remembered she played for them in the last WAFU cup which Edo Queens won.
Thanks. Bayelsa Queens.
Mr Supa, Etim Essien or Emem Essien
Enem, I mean
Actually, you meant to mean Emem Essien, Supa. 🙂
Janet is golden, but Shakirat Moshood is a gem of inestimable value. I see an Etim Essien in her. Great on the ball and fearless. I would like to see more of her for sure.
Bayelsa Queens Fail to Make Champions League: Retrospective Review
It was a case of ‘so close, yet so far’ as Bayelsa Queens’ quest to return to the CAF Women’s Champions League was quashed after losing 8–7 on penalties to hosts ASEC Mimosas in the WAFU-B final on Friday.
Alarm bells were ringing after the Prosperity Ladies fell to an early goal of their own making by not defending a throw-in routine properly in just 4 minutes with Ami Prisca Diallo stabbing home from close range to make it 1:0 to Asec.
I applauded Bayelsa Queens’ effort in trying to draw level as they piled on pressure on the hosts with relentless attacking forays that were incisive, insidious and quite inventive.
All that effort would be crowned in 18 minutes after an excellent offensive interplay ended with a delightful cross that Emem Essien buried with aplomb: 1-1.
Game on.
This battle ebbed and flowed bitterly and excitingly with no breakthrough for either side before the cold feet of penalty shootouts stamped on Bayelsa Queens’ ambitions, as they lapsed into a long drawn-out, pulsating 7-8 loss after 120 minutes of football.
Well, I enjoyed this encounter immensely as it lived up to the hype with both teams serving up a delicious meal of football worthy of gracing any final at any level with determination, drive and doggedness from both teams.
I was sad that we lost, very sad indeed actually as it took me a while to fall asleep.
That said, I felt that Bayelsa Queens were defeated by masterclass tactics from the Asec coach.
You see, no doubt Bayelsa were the more gifted and highly technical players on the night. But Asec knew what to expect and applied themselves where it mattered most to neutralise Bayelsa with the right strategy that paid dividends.
Nigeria coaches over-rely on wing play.
Asec flooded that zone to ensure less crosses were delivered by Bayelsa. Bayelsa also had a knack of going to sleep at the back which Asec punished for the opening goal and almost punished with several near misses, one with a free header which, in truth, should have scored if the Ivorian had applied better heading technique.
We (Bayelsa) had 4 upfront but these strikers were positioned too close, way too close to the Ivorian defenders that it made it easier to get tight and vice-like to our strikers, crowding them out and making it difficult to generate compelling, clear cut goal scoring chances – Asec created far fewer scoring chances but these were more dangerous than the ones we generated.
In midfield we seemed to lack vision as we failed to adequately stamp our authority in that arena.
All in all, Nigerian coaches must learn how to create space for their strikers to breathe rather than depending too much on brute force, physicality and pace which, sadly, all failed Bayelsa Queens when it mattered the most!