Senegal’s hopes of competing in the FIFA Women’s World Cup for the first time in their history took a major blow as they suffered a 4-0 semi-final loss to Haiti at North Harbour Stadium on Saturday.
The Terranga Lionesses came into the Australia and New Zealand 2023 Play-off Tournament on the back of a historic 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal playoff win but could not upstage their Caribbean foes.
On the other hand, Haiti were also on the same quest for a maiden ticket to the global showpiece this summer, after they finished third in their group at the 2023 Concacaf Women’s Championship.
The Senegalese were fully in control of their destiny with some promising moments until Sherly Jeudy set up Kethna Louis to hand the dominant Haitians the lead on the stroke of half time.
After the break, the West Africans could not bounce back from their late slip-up in the first half as the Caribbean further consolidated their lead when Nerelia Mondesir doubled the lead off a Melchie Dumornay’s assist 10 minutes after the restart.
Almost 10 minutes later, Roselord Borgella further buried the comeback hopes of the WAFU-A champions when she notched the third off a solo brilliance before similarly bagging her second in a space of two minutes to seal the fate of the Africans.
Despite missing the global finals, Mame Moussa Cissé’s side will seek to overcome their disappointment from the heavy loss, in Tuesday’s dead rubber international friendly with the Group B loser between Cameroon and Thailand.
-Cafonline
