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Ghana and South Africa battle for bronze medal for Wafcon 2024

Ghana and South Africa battle for bronze medal for Wafcon 2024

BBC News6 days ago
Di black queens of Ghana and di Banyana Banyana of South Africa jam for di second time for dis 2024 Wafcon on Friday 25 July.
Di two teams dey battle for third place afta dem both fail to reach di final - Super Falcons of Nigeria bin comot South Africa, wey hosts Morocco don comot Ghana for di semifinals.
Di final na between record holders Nigeria (wey bin win di trophy nine times) and Morocco (wey neva win am bifor).
But bifor dat Sunday final, Ghana and South Africa go battle for medal.
Di two teams meet for dia group wey get teams like Mali and Tanzania.
South Africa bin sama Ghana 2-0 for dat Group C game; so dis second time, di Black Queens go hope to stop di Banyana Banyana.
But e neva go be easy.
Road to di medal zone
South Africa na di defending champions for di tournament afta dem beat Morocco for di last edition for 2022.
Dem bin finish di group as winners bifor dem go on to beat Senegal for penalties to reach di semifinal.
Inside dat group, apart from say dem sama Ghana, dem also beat Mali 4-0 wia dem draw 1-1 wit Tanzania.
Ghana for di oda hand bin draw wit Mali bifor dem beat Tanzania 4-1 afta dem lose di first game to South Africa (2-0).
Both teams bin play some tough games for dis Wafcon but dem fall short for di semifinals (Ghana lose 4-2 for penalties to Morocco wey South Africa lose 2-1 to Nigeria).
For dat Nigeria v South Africa game, Banyana Banyana player Gabriela Salgado bin get serious injury wia she don undergo surgery.
Players for Nigeria and Ghana don visit her for hospital afta her surgery.
South Africa dey hope to use dis game to win medal for dia teammate wia don dey hospital bed.
For Ghana, di sports minister and di govment don congratulate di black queens for dia ogbonge performance for di tournament wia dem bin hope say dem fit win di bronze medal.
Wetin di coaches tok ahead of di third place match
Coach for di black queens Lars Kim Björkegren say im team performance don dey impressive so far for di competition.
"We bin dey very close to di final, but today we dey focused and determined to do our best for di game v South Africa."
Im add say "we don reach di playoff once in nine years - so to reach di semifinal na good tin."
Since Björkegren take ova di team, im bin change tins wey he don guide di squad to di semifinal.
Many of di 24 players don dey play for di Wafcon for di first time.
But coach Björkegren believe say im girls go try to beat South Africa dis time around.
"For our first game wit South Africa, dem bin score but we no fit score even though we bin play beta".
Im add say "we be attacking team, we bin dey tackle and shoot and we want to show di world say we be good team beyond di medal we go collect if we win di third place game."
"If we bin dey play for top four consistently, we go finally win di tournament. Di journey to qualify for di World Cup for Brazil don start now, we gat to finish dis Wafcon strong."
For di coach of Banyana Banyana Dr Desiree Ellis, di na tribute game for Gabriela Salgado and one of dia senior players Jermaine Seoposenwe wia bin dey play almost her last tournament wit 110 caps for di Banyana Banyana.
"Di ambition na to reach di final and win di trophy back-to-back, but we don dey disappointed say dat neva happun," she tok for pre-match press conference.
"We want end di tournament well; na difficult tin to play one team two times for one tournament, but we go give our best."
Coach Desiree also add say "we wan go home wit sometin not just for Salgado and Jermaine, but for di fans and di pipo of South Africa."
Head-to-head
South Africa and Ghana bin face each oda for di WAFCON for 2016 wia di black queens win am 1-0 to finish third.
If dem beat South Africa again on Friday, dat go be di second time dem bin win di third place match wit di Banyana Banyana.
For dia last 6 games, South Africa don win 5 times wia Ghana win only once (di 2016 3rd place game).
For 8 officials games dis year bifor di Wafcon, Ghana bin win only 3 (1-0 v Senegal, 3-1 v Malawi and 4-2 v Benin).
South Africa bin win all dia 7 games dis year ahead of di competition.
Also ahead of dis Wafcon, Bayana Bayana bin rank 54th for di world and 2nd for Africa; Black queens dey 66th for di world and 6th for Africa.
Di Friday third-place game go be consolation to any of di two kontris - for di players, di coaching staff and di fans back for dia home.
Key players
Ghana go dey hope dia key players - Grace Asantewaa, Portia Boakye and Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah wey bin play well for dis tournament (her first tournament for Ghana) go get good game.
But dey gatz to also challenge star players Refiloe Jane, Linda Motlhalo and Jermaine Seoposenwe (wey dey play her last tournament wit di Banyana Banyana).
Egyptian referee Shahenda Saad Ali Elmaghrabi go dey in charge for dis third-place game for di stade Larbi Zaouli for Cassablanca.
Her team of assistant referees na Yara Atef (Egypt), Houda Afine (Tunisia), Dorsaf Gabouati (Tunisia) and Mariem Chedad (Mauritania).
Dis bronze medal game go happun at 7 PM GMT (8 PM WAT)
Make una join us for dat time for live commentary.
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