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Soccer News of Monday, 2 September 2002

Source: gna

Burkina Faso win ladies 5-nation tourney

The Princess of Burkina Faso made history on Sunday when they won their maiden trophy since the inception of the ladies five-nation soccer West Africa tournament four year ago.

They beat Senegal 5-4 on penalties after both teams failed to hit the back of the net during regulation time. The Princess, tagged as the dark horses of the tournament converted all their five kicks while their goalie managed to save one to deny Senegal the chance to carry the day.

The host team lost 1-2 to the same side in the opening of the tournament and nobody gave them a dog's chance to avenged their earlier defeat. It was one match that the Burkinabe played above themselves and cheered on by their fans, they dominated every department of the game. Unfortunately, they could not translate their dominance into goals and had to rely on penalties to gladden the heart of their Ouagadougou fans.

Earlier, Mali dismissed Cote D'Ivoire 4-1 to win the third place. Ghana's representative, Ghatel Ladies, were denied the chance to participate in the tournament which they won last year. Tournament officials told the GNA Sports that the Ghanaians were not formally invited to defend the trophy and were only allowed to play two exhibition matches.

At a point in time, the Ghanaians had to sign an undertaking to score a pre-determined number of goals because the participating teams are scared of them having suffered humiliating cricket scores in their hands during last year's tournament.