WAFCON: 'Ghana have so much talent, it's something in the DNA'
Stars and legends have been noticing the rise of the Black Queens in Morocco
For lovers of African football, Ghana has a special place in the memory bank. In 2010, the first time a men’s football World Cup was held in Africa, they were the only African side to make it out of the group stage. Then, they were affectionately nicknamed BaGhana BaGhana – a take on the South African moniker for their own side Bafana Bafana – and a sign that the hosts and the continent were adopting them as representatives. They went on to reach the quarter-finals.
At the same, the golden period of their women’s national team was just starting to dim. They had reached the semi-finals of six WAFCONs between 1998 and 2006, largely under the leadership of the inspirational midfielder Adjoa Bayor – now working with the squad as their equipment manager – and appeared at three World Cups between 2003 and 2007. But by 2008, they exited WAFCON at the group stage and in 2012, missed the event altogether. Things seemed to be improving in 2016, when they ended in third place but they took another dip and did not appear in 2022.
Now, they are back, somewhat surprise entrants to the quarter-finals of WAFCON 2024, and catching the eyes of those who know what it takes to be continental champions.
In the aftermath of Ghana’s tournament opener, which they lost 2-0 to the title-holders, South Africa, Banyana Banyana had nothing but praise for the Black Queens. “They’ve got young, fresh players that have been in the national team for two years and they're rebuilding. And in the near future, let's say in two years' time, Ghana will be dangerous,” Linda Motlhalo, who scored South Africa’s first goal of the tournament, told The Cutback. “They used their strength, which is physicality and also the aerial balls and they really made it hard for us.”
While South Africa nullified Ghana in the air by playing to their strengths and keeping the ball on the ground, new(ish) Black Queens coach Lars Kim Björkegren wants to change the narrative that his team is all about strength and puts the emphasis their skill too. “It’s not just that they are big and strong, it’s also about their control of the ball,” he said after the South Africa match.
It’s one of the reasons he took the job, just six months before WAFCON after Nora Hauptle moved to Zambia. One of the things that Björkegren, who has coached in his home country, China, Cyprus and the United States, has seen in his short time in charge is that Ghana’s system is producing but the finer details of creating a high performance environment are missing.
“I'm from Sweden and we're almost the opposite of Ghana - we’re actually not so talented,” he said in his first media engagement at the tournament. “But we get better because we have a tradition to work hard in training, to be tactical, to have discipline, to eat the right things, to sleep at the right hours and all those kinds of things. That's why the Swedish team, at the end of the day, they are good.But they are not so good when you're looking at the youth team.
“Ghana have so much talent, it's something in the DNA: how they can move the body, the control of the ball, and the passion for the game. If they can add 5% of the Swedish thing as well, they're going to have a team that is not just good in Africa, it's actually good in the world.”
He also highlighted Ghana’s emerging talent which has provided a steady feeder system for the national side and continues to produce excellent results. In the last seven editions of the African under-20 World Cup Qualification competition, Ghana have finished first and progressed to the age-group World Cup. Only Nigeria, nine time participants, have been to the under-20 women’s World Cup more times. At this WAFCON, the average age of the Ghana squad is 24.3. For comparison, South Africa, who are spoken about as one of the older teams, have an average age of 29.3 which suggests Ghana’s side is still developing towards their peak, and doing so collectively.
Bjorkegren pointed to their unified strength when asked to assess how his team stacks up next to some of the tournament favourites, after he acknowledged that they do not consider themselves to be among them. “I compare us with, for example, Zambia - they have two players that are maybe even more important than the team. Barbra Banda and Racheal Kundananji can win the game for you,” Björkegren said. “For us, it's a little bit the opposite. We do have some players that are really, really good. And I think they are ready to take the next step in their careers.”
Banda and Kundananji have scored all of Zambia’s six goals in the group stage and have shown why they are among the highest earners in the game but it does ask questions of the depth of their side. Similarly, Morocco’s captain Ghizlane Chebbak has netted four times in their group stage total of seven. South Africa have the same number of goals as Morocco, from seven different goal scorers, and Ghana have the next most number of individual scorers: 4. Of those, Alice Kusi has two goals to her name, and as a unit, Ghana have shown the ability to score many more.
They hit the woodwork twice against South Africa and had two other shots on target, had 18 shots at goal against both Mali and Tanzania, and nine on target in the Tanzania game. That they managed to have such attacking numbers in the absence of the reigning Ghana Player of the Year, Doris Boaduwaa, who almost derailed the defending champions South Africa, speaks to Björkegren’s point about the way their strengths are spread among the squad. For the record, Boaduwaa missed the Tanzania game after an accumulation of yellow cards and should be back for the quarter-final clash against Algeria in Berkane on Friday.
Given Algeria’s goal-shy tournament thus far – they have only scored once but kept a clean sheet in all three group stage matches – it may not be a stretch to wonder if Ghana should be considered favourites and ready to return to some of their glory days.
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