Ethiopian Women to Play Against Ghana in Addis Ababa!

African champions, Super Falcons of Nigeria and Ghana ’s Black Queens will be in engaged in tricky away duels as the group phase of the Beijing 2008 Olympics Games qualifiers begin this weekend. The continent’s foremost female teams have to slug it out with South Africa and Ethiopia for the automatic slot in a round-robin basis which spans July 2007 to March 2008.

On the first day, Nigeria the only African side to have participated at the quadrennial games treks down south to face South Africa ’s Banyana Banyana whilst Ghana’s strength will be tested by Ethiopia in Addis Ababa. For the Falcons, the clash is just a week after hammering their hosts 4-0 in the finals of the just ended 9th All Africa Games in Algeria to clinch gold, but Coach Lad Jossy’s side is confident of a convincing result.

In Addis Ababa , Ghana ’s Black Queens will be handed one of their toughest encounters in recent outings when the square off Ethiopia in the other match of the qualifiers. Assistant coach of the Ghanaian team, Dan Owusu has said that his outfit knows nothing about their hosts but expressed confidence they will begin their campaign on a bright note. “We know nothing about our opponents, but we will surely return at least with a point” assured Owusu, who was a three-time golden boot winner in the local league during his playing days.

The Queens are banging their hopes on three foreign based players in the team; Mavis Danso, Fati Mohammed (both of Robert Morris College, USA) and Patricia Ofori ( Alabama University , USA ) to bring their experience to bear in their quest to oust the Ethiopians at their own backyard.

The top placed team at the end of the qualifying rounds secures the automatic spot for next year’s Olympic Games with the second placed team engaging Brazil in the play-off. (Source: CAF)