Lady Dodos Crushed 7-0 by Ghana, Exit 2028 Olympics Qualifying

Mauritius's women's national football team, the Lady Dodos, have been knocked out of the qualifying campaign for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games after a devastating 7-0 defeat to Ghana in the second leg of their second-round tie, played on Tuesday 13 October at the Essipong Stadium in Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana.

The result compounded a 3-0 first-leg loss suffered at the Côte d'Or National Sports Complex in Mauritius, leaving the Lady Dodos on the wrong end of a crushing 10-0 aggregate scoreline. Ghana's team, known as the Black Queens, were ruthless across both legs and gave Mauritius no path back into the tie.

In Essipong, the contest was effectively over before half-time. Evelyn Badu opened the scoring as early as the ninth minute, and Mauritius were unable to stem the tide. Portia Boakye made it 2-0 in the 28th minute, and Anjegipina Zakaria added a third just four minutes later to send the teams into the break with a scoreline that mirrored the first leg — 3-0 down at half-time.

The second half brought no relief. The Lady Dodos, unable to contain Ghana's attack, conceded further goals in the final quarter of the match. Grace Abdulai extended the lead to 4-0 in the 74th minute, before Nancy Amoh converted a penalty in the 87th minute to make it 5-0. Abdulai then completed a brace to push the score to 6-0, and a seventh goal rounded off a humbling evening for the Mauritian side.

Captain and midfielder Jerusha Ramasawmy and her teammates were overmatched throughout, reflecting the significant gap in resources, development, and experience between the two nations' women's programmes.

The defeat marks the end of Mauritius's involvement in the African qualifying rounds for the women's football tournament at the 2028 Olympics. The competition is organised under the Confederation of African Football (CAF), with the continent's top teams competing across multiple rounds for a limited number of berths at the Games.

For Mauritian women's football, the double-header against Ghana underscores the scale of the challenge facing the sport locally. The Mauritius Football Association (MFA) will need to invest significantly in the women's game — coaching, infrastructure, and competitive exposure — if the Lady Dodos are to compete more closely with established African sides in future campaigns.

Source: ION News