Ghana coach Bashir Hayford ‘strongly believes’ the Black Queens will secure qualification to the semi-finals of the 2018 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations by beating Cameroon today. 

The Black Queens face an early exit after taking three points from two games. They beat Algeria by a lone goal in their opening game but were stunned 2-1 by Mali on Tuesday. 

The defeat to Mali means any outcome other than three points in their final group game against Cameroon could spell a disastrous end to the Black Queens campaign.

"It has not been easy since we played our last game because the mood in the camp was a sad one as the girls were in tears. In fact, we used the whole of yesterday to psyche them up and gradually they are getting better, and about 80 per cent okay. We will use today and tomorrow to add the remaining 20 per cent," he said in pre-match press conference. 

"Against Mali, we played everything we knew but the result didn’t go in our favour. It is in the past now and we have moved on. We are not out of the competition yet so we have another chance to redeem our image."

He added, "Cameroon indeed has six points but they have also not qualified because in football anything can happen. Algeria can beat Mali and we too can beat Cameroon, so I want to urge Ghanaians not to write the girls off. I strongly believe that we will beat Cameroon tomorrow to get six points then we see what happens in the other match between Mali and Algeria."

Cameroon, on the other hand, are all but confirmed for the last four having won all their two games thus far. Currently top of Group A's table, the Lionesses beat Mali 2-1 on matchday one, before handing Algeria a 3-0 defeat. 

A point will be enough to see Cameroon finish as group winners but head coach Joseph Brian Ndoko is targeting a win. 

“A draw will see us through, but that will not be our vision going into the game. We are poised to end the Group Stages with a win and hopefully, we can achieve that against Ghana tomorrow. We are going to give it our best shot,” he said. 

Ghana have a better head-to-head record against Cameroon having won five and lost three of the eight meetings.