SC Casablanca through to historic final after dramatic penalty shootout
SC Casablanca are through to the CAF Women’s Champions League, Cote d’Ivoire 2023 finals following a dramatic 3-2 penalty victory over Ampem Darkoa after the two sides played out to an exciting 2-2 draw in San Pedro’s Laurent Pokou stadium on Wednesday evening.
Both making their debut in Africa’s premier women’s football club competition, Ghana’s Ampem Darkoa and SC Casablanca of Morocco have both had an impressive run in Cote d’Ivoire.
Having already made history on debut, it was a place in the final up for the taking for the two sides aiming to put the cherry on top of their impressive debut.
It took just 6 minutes for Comfort Yeboah to open the scoring for Darkoa after the early pressure applied by the Ghanaians resulted in a penalty for Yeboah to slot home.
Minutes later, the defender was back on the scoresheet, this time with an unfortunate own goal that gifted the Moroccans the equalizer in the 28th minute.
Not to be disheartened by the unfortunate incident, Ampem Darkoa continued to push forward and were duly rewarded in the 39th minute after the lively Jennifer Owusuaa regained the lead with a wonder strike from a distance that had the entire stadium in awe.
Returning from the break, SC Casablanca came out a different side in search of the early equalizer. The applied pressure paid dividends for the Moroccan side who were awarded a penalty minutes into the second half for Agueissa Diarra to step up and convert in the 56th minute.
Both sides had an equal amount of chances to get the winning goal but were both let down by their finishing when it mattered the most as nothing could separate them in referees regulation time as well as extra time.
With the lottery of penalties, it was the Moroccans who emerged 3-2 victors in a dramatic shootout that sees them set up a tie against Mamelodi Sundowns on Sunday, while the Ghanaians are set to battle it out for the bronze medal against AS Far.
Post match reactions:
Imane Abdelahad – Player of the match
“This is football. The team managed to recover after a lot of missed opportunities and qualified. We are happy. The team believed it could come back from behind. We caught up and qualified after being behind".
El Qaïchouri Mehdi - SC Casablanca Coach
"The key word is emotion. At the end of a match where we were behind twice, we came back and qualified for the final after penalties – this is fantastic. We are happy to participate in this final and will try to take advantage of the moment and prepare for the final from Thursday. It's exceptional to see such an audience for a women's football match, I would like to thank everyone who supported us. I thank the Ivorian public for their support”.
Nana Joe Adarkwa, coach Ampem Darkoa
“It was a very complicated match which came down to penalties and unfortunately, we lost and it is very painful. It's very painful to lose but we have to boost the morale of the girls to play well in this last match. We had to count on penalties, and it was not easy. We had to take advantage of the opportunities and not wait for penalties.