Ghana women’s senior national team, the Black Queens are in an imperial form after smoothly brushing aside Benin on a 5-0 aggregate in the 4th round of the Paris 24 Olympic qualifiers.
Two second-half goals: an own goal and Evelyn Badu’s strike condemned the Benin women’s national team to a 2-0 defeat at the Accra Sports Stadium after winning 3-0 in Benin on Saturday.
Ghana has set up a fierce encounter against the Copper Queens of Zambia in February 2024 in the 3rd Round of the CAF Women Olympic qualifier.
The win vs Benin is the 9th consecutive victory for the Black Queens since Nora Huptle took charge of the team on 5th January 2024 from Mercy Tagoe-Quarcoo who had been the coach since 2019.
What has happened is that in the space of 10 months, the Black Queens have scored a whopping 31 goals and conceded none.
Nora Hauptle is a former Switzerland international who played for the National team between 2007 and 2009. She played for clubs like St. Gallen, YB Frauen, Zuchwil 05, Twente and Rot-Schwarz Tun.
Born in Horn, Switzerland, the 40-year-old gaffer spent 5 years as Switzerland U-19 women’s coach. The formal SC Sand and Israel Women national team coach is the first ever technical director of women’s football in Israel.
Nora Hauptle was during the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica a technical advisor to the Black Princesses.
She has in a short time raised the interest of Ghanaians in the Black Queens and changed their game. The young women are exuding confidence in their matches. You can notice apparently that there is a plan in their game as they displayed in the second half against Benin in the 2-0 win on Tuesday.
She has gotten youngsters like Gladys Boaduwaa(20), Gifty Assifuah (23), Evelyn Badu (20), Vivian Adjei Konadu (23),
Grace Asantewaa (22), Azumah Bugre (20), Philomena Abaka (20), Blessing Shine Agbomadzi (20), and Cynthian Kolan Fiindib (20) firing mixed with the experience of Alice Kusi (28), (Jennifer Cudjoe 29) and Portia Boakye (34) for the country.
The most impressive element of Nora Hauptle’s work so far is the brilliant metamorphosis of the squad. Cynthia Konlan, Anastasia Achaa, Evelyn Badu, Azumah Bugre and Doris Boaduwaa were all part of the 21-woman squad that represented Ghana in the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Costa Rica in 2023 coached by Ben Fokuo.
Her faith in the youngsters suggests that the Black Queens have a bright future.
The defence of the Black Queens is something that we cannot forget- 0 goals conceded in 9. This is great news because many successful teams in football thrive on a solid defence and Nora Hauptle’s girls- Agbomazi, skipper Portia Boakye, Philomena Abakah and Azumah Bugre have been incredible at the back. Cynthia Konlan has not been tested much yet but looks great in the post for the Black Queens.
Benin, Guinea, Senegal and Rwanda have been her opponents since taking over. With all due respect, these countries aren’t as good as Nigeria, Morocco, South Africa, Cameroon and Zambia but she deserves her flowers.
Next on the agenda is the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier vs Namibia. Ghana will host Namibia in the first leg on 27 November and the return leg will be on 5th December. The real test will start in February 2024 vs Zambia.
Nora Hauptle has been employed to qualify the team for WAFCON 2024 along with winning the WAFU Zone B Women’s Cup. She has suddenly made the Queens a force to be reckoned with.
The icing on the cake will be when Ghana qualifies for Paris 2024. Ghanaians are showing love and showering praise on the team, long may it continue.
