Under the bright lights and the self-inflicted weight of expectation at the Berkane Stadium on a demanding Monday night in Group C of the TotalEnergies WAFCON 2024, Ghanaian midfielder Chantelle Louise Boye-Hlorkah stood tallest as the Woman of the Match in a must-win tie against Tanzania.

The 29-year-old midfielder maintained composure from start to finish, showed leadership and great decision making as Ghana showed character to defeat Tanzania 4-1 to book their well-deserved position in the quarterfinals of the continental competition.

Boye-Hlorkah’s magic

Vocal via word of mouth on the field of play but more importantly Boye-Hlorkah lets her actions with and without the ball speak for her.

Ball control, game reading and timely interceptions describes her approach to the beautiful game.

Against Tanzania, she owned the midfield. She frustrated Diana Msewa who is the heart and soul of the Twiga Stars midfield and was Woman of the Match in their 1-1 draw with the reigning champions South Africa.

It was not just the numbers on the stat sheet for Boye-Hlorkah. It was the timely tackles, positive energy and overall experience that were crucial for Ghana.

She made routine look elegant with the manner in which she transformed text book training ground moves into easy-to-execute runs during the game.

“Today, I was in a comfortable role. I like the wing but I like being involved more in my natural position. I am glad to have played a little bit everywhere. A more familiar role for myself. I am so happy. The award could have been given it to any of my teammates. I want to thank the coach for playing me in this position, my teammates and the staff for the support,” she said with an ear-to-ear smile after the game.

She dictated play, hi-fived or tapped her teammates on the back for encouragement and generally gave the traveling Ghanaian fans in the stands something to cheer about. The many Berkane citizens too joined in whenever she had the ball on her feet.

Beginning of a new era

In 13 editions, this is the seventh time that the Black Queens have progressed to the knockout stages at the WAFCON and have now made it four out of four against East African opposition.

“I am just proud, so proud of the girls. I try and lead. I am very vocal on the pitch. I try and push the team as much as I can. The girls picked me up too. I told them that we are not going to win this game without playing as a team. I am so proud of Ghana, of the fans. I am so proud to be Ghanaian,” Boye-Hlorkah said passionately after the game yet to catch her breathe.

“Wow. Wow. Wow,” the Anfield-born midfielder who was given more freedom in her midfield role on Monday said with absolute admiration of her teammates in what she said was a memorable day for this team that was on the edge of losing everything had they not emerged victorious.

Just four players in the current squad had ever played at the WAFCON. The new generation includes Boye-Hlorkah who is featuring at her first WAFCON.

“Growing up through the England system meant that I was eligible to play for my country of birth but I always knew that I wanted to play for Ghana. I am just so grateful to be here playing for Ghana.”

Quarterfinals here they come

With this result, Ghana have now recorded nine wins, a draw and a loss in their final group stages fixtures at the WAFCON.

Princella Abudea opened the scoring in the 12th minute before Alice Kusi scored her second goal of this edition to make it 2-1.

Evelyn Badu came off the bench to make it 3-1 before Boye-Hlorkah sealed the comfortable victory to make it Ghana’s first time to score four goals at the WAFCON since the 1998 edition.

Despite the goal and impact of the eventual result, Boye-Hlorkah admitted that, “I always want to achieve the most. The final result. The end goal is to win it all. The result means everything. I said that we would score more than one or more goals. We got the performance. I am more proud of the performance than the result.”

“We were not playing to their game. When we are actually playing football, combine with each other. When we got it down, we were able to play. The result is amazing, the performance even better. The girls put in a great shift.”

The Ghanaian contingent in the stands watched the entire game on their feet, encouraging the players on the field, waving the nation’s flag at every opportunity and could be seen in the end just visibly relieved that they made it to the knockout stages for the first time since 2016 when the Black Queens finished in third place.

Monday’s win marked the first victory for Ghana after taking the lead in two games at the current finals. Ghana will take on Algeria in the last eight today at the Berkane Stadium.-CAF