International football action returns to the Ghana capital, Accra, after over two years of on-going construction works for next year’s African Cup of Nations.
And the senior national women’s team, the Black Queens, would be the first side to test the facilities at the El-Wak stadium which re-opens to football action on Sunday when Ghana host Nigeria in the African qualifying campaign for the Beijing 2008 Olympics Games.
Ghana, second on the four-nation table take on Nigeria, who top the standings by superior goals advantage in the second group game.
After both side posted impressive wins on the opening day of matches, the Black Queens return to home grounds to welcome the Super Falcons, a side they have only beaten once.
Ghana kicked off their Beijing 2008 Olympics Games qualifying campaign with a 3-1 away win over Ethiopia in Addis Ababa while Nigeria thumped South Africa 5-0 at home.
With important victories in their opening round games, the stage is set for the all-West African clash which comes off at the El-Wak stadium, one of the many selected training sites for the Cup of Nations to be hosted by Ghana.
Ghana, four years ago missed out of a place at the Olympics after their opponents for Sunday, Nigeria edged them out in the last qualifying game. But the Black Queens have moved on since that game and are hoping to post their second victory over their rivals.
“I know the Nigerians are thinking about us and we are also thinking about them, but on that day, the field will decide who is the real big team on the continent,” Black Queens captain, Adjoa Bayor said when asked to comment on the game during training at the national camp.
“We’ve been training and praying that we will stop the Nigerians from beating us again and even though we are ready for them, we are not under pressure because we know we can deal with them this time round.
The Ghana captain says they are not overawed by the high scoring results chalked by the Nigerians in recent times but adds that “all of us are ready and if we are to play the match today any of us will leave up to the occasion.”
The African qualifying campaign for the Beijing Games is a played on a round-robin basis involving four nations.
Africa has a single Olympic Games ticket in the women’s football competition as the top placed team at the end of the qualifying rounds secures the automatic spot for next year’s Beijing Games with the second placed team engaging Brazil in the play-off.
Ghana is seeking to make her debut in the women’s football competition at the Olympic Games.