Vice president Bawumia congratulates Hasaacas Ladies despite being downed by Sundowns
Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has heaped praises on Hasaacas Ladies for “representing our country very well” despite losing 2-0 to Memelodi Sundowns Ladies in the grand finale of the Maiden African Womens CAF Champions League.
Hasaacas went into a showdown with Sundowns but the Ghanian giants failed to deliver when it mattered most.
A 32nd minutes lead followed by a 65th minutes cushioning gave the South Africans a history making feat by winning the inaugural tournament which was held in Egypt.
Hasaacas looked favourites as the highest scoring team with ten goals against Sundowns’ two, but the former only had just one scoring opportunity in Friday’s game, looking unimpressive for the task.
Reacting to the defeat, Dr. Bawumia, who has been an ardent follower of Hasaacas’ campaign, said the West African representatives, together with the top scorer of the tournament, deserve commendations.
“Despite not being able to bring home the trophy, Hasaacas Ladies deserve commendations for representing our country very well at the maiden African Women’s CAF Champions League in Egypt,” he said in a tweet.
Congratulations to the team and Evelyn Boadu, who was crowned Top Scorer and the Best Player”.
Despite not being able to bring home the trophy, @HasaacasLadies deserve commendations for representing our country very well at the maiden African Women's Champions League in Egypt.
Congratulations to the team, and @EvelynBadu15, who was crowned top scorer and the best player pic.twitter.com/o1jL9YYZty
— Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia (@MBawumia) November 19, 2021
Hours before the match the vice president had tweeted a well-wishing statement the Western Regional-base side.
But his wish hit rocks as the team failed to come to the party against a well composed side from South Africa.
Hasaacas would have repeated a feat achieved by Ghana’s Accra Hearts of Oak who won the maiden edition of the CAF Confederatios Cup in 2004/05.
But the bragging right switched to the South Africans who did not concede a single goal in open play of the entire tournament.
The opening exchanges were evenly balanced with both teams enjoying periods of possession but some poor passing meant neither side could create clear-cut chances.
Sundowns came close in the seventh minute as Lerato Kgasago’s free kick from outside the area went narrowly over the bar. The breakthrough came in the 32nd minute as the front three of Sundowns combined well to get in behind the Hasaacas defence
It was something of a turnaround in fortunes for the two sides with Sundowns having only scored twice en route to the final whereas Hasaacas had amassed 10 goal in their four previous games.
Before the final Mamelodi Sundowns manager Jerry Tshabalala had said “defenders win tournaments” and he was proved correct as his side did not concede a single goal in the tournament, other than in the semi-final penalty shout-out.
Indeed his defence held firm in face of the tournament’s top scorer 19-year-old Evelyn Badu, who scored half of Hasaacas’ goals in Egypt.
