24 May 2015 12:40
Visiting Equatorial Guinea proved too strong for their Congolese hosts, managing a 3-0 win in the first leg of the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games qualifier on Saturday in Kinkala, a town situated in the south-eastern part of Congo.
The victory has almost but sealed Les Nzalang Nacional place at the third round of the continental qualifiers.
As early as the sixth minute, the visitors were up courtesy Jumaria Barbosa de Santana, with a shot that beat the Congolese goalie, Ornella Batangouna.
Four minutes later, Jade Boho Sayo doubled the lead before completing her brace and sealing victory on 19 minutes, to ensure the two-time African champions completed the job in the first half.
In Cairo, the Lady Pharaohs of Egypt pulled off a great surprise by holding the highly favoured Black Queens of Ghana to a 1-1 draw. The Egyptians never looked back after going down in the first half, matching their visitors squarely in all departments.
The Black Queens went up on 26 minutes through experienced midfielder Portia Boakye, with a shot from a corner that went straight into the net with Egypt goalie Naha El Demerdash caught ball watching.
The hosts responded positively and deservedly got the equalizer through captain Engy Ahmed, after Ghana defender Cynthia Adobia handled in the vital area.
Egypt coach Mohamed Saad was full of praise for her players for the gallant disoplay against the highly-rated Ghanaian team.
“I’m satisfied with the result. We played a good game and got a positive result. The players did well and their performance says it all. We will go to Accra and fight for a good result. Our target will be not to lose and we will do our best to achieve”, said Saad who guided the Lay Pharaohs to qualify for the 2015 African Games in Brazzaville, Congo at the expense of Senegal.
“We played a good game and the girls gave out their best. We were very good possession-wise and won almost all the 50-50 balls. The Egyptians gave us a good test and we hope to finish the job in the return leg next week”, Ghana’s coach Yusif Basigie noted.
South Africa’s Banyana Banyana showed their prowess beating Gabon 3-2 at the latter’s backyard in Libreville.
Earlier on Friday, Botswana eased past Kenya 2-1 in Lobatse in a highly competitive encounter. Refilwe Tholakea and Lesego Keleboge were on target for the Batswana whilst Mary Kinuthia grabbed a vital consolation for the Harambee Starlets, as the Kenyans are nicknamed.
The return legs will take place next weekend with the winners advancing to the third round of the qualifiers.
Two teams will qualify to represent Africa at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Fixtures
Friday, 22 May 2015
Botswana 2-1 Kenya
Saturday, 23 May 2015
Congo 0-3 Equatorial Guinea
Gabon 2-3 South Africa
Egypt 1-1 Ghana
Sunday, 24 May 2015
Zambia vs Zimbabwe
Confederation of African Football (CAF) News
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