Black Queens risk missing out on the semi-finals of the 2018 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) after suffering a 2-1 defeat against Mali.

Qualification is now difficult for Ghana after Cameroon thrashed Algeria 3-0 to go six points in group A

As it stands now Ghana should either beat Cameroon and enhance their chances of qualifying for the semi-finals of the competitions or a draw will do if Algeria stun Mali in their final group A tie on Friday.

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Cameroon with six points have now positioned themselves well, but Ghana on three points will automatically qualify if they beat Cameroon by two goal margin or win three 3-2.

And even if Mali beat Algeria by any margin of win, then Ghana, Mali and Egypt will all be on six points.

In this case the head to head rule will be applied among the three countries who will be tied on points and Ghana having scored more goals in their meetings would go through.

However, should Ghana beat Cameroon 1-0, while Mali edge Algeria by any margin of win, then the implication would be that Cameroon and Mali would navigate through to the semis

Below are the rules for tie breaking exercise in Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON)

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Tiebreakers

Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 71):

Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;

Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;

Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;

If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;

Goal difference in all group matches;

Goals scored in all group matches;

Drawing of lots.