Elizabeth Baidoo deserts Queens

Elizabeth Baidoo, defensive icon of the national women's soccer team, the Black Queens has abandoned the team at the eleventh hour, ahead of an important international assignment.

Elizabeth who was expected to travel with the team on Wednesday for an African Cup qualifier billed for Dakar on Sunday against a well drilled Senegalese side was no where to be found at the time of departure. The Ghana News Agency Sports gathered that Baidoo took advantage of permission granted the entire team on Monday to bid farewell to their families and friends and return the next day to abscond.

Our source said though the player did not come back, expectations were that she would meet the team at the airport before departure but unfortunately she did not surface.

Another source close to the player told the GNA that the player had secured a contract with a college in the United States and had flown out on Monday to pursue it though Mr. Sylvester Mensah, head of women's soccer unit at the GFA and leader of the delegation to Senegal had advised her to leave after the match in Dakar. In her anxiety to play in the US Elizabeth left without securing an International Transfer Certificate (ITC) that would enable her to ply her trade there.

The influential player's absence is likely to affect the team in diverse ways, as she has been a utility player for the team for many years. Sources close to the team said Baidoo, who was SWAG female footballer of 1999 was being considered for the captaincy of the Queens after Alberta Sackey the former skipper travelled to the United States last year.