Women football has come to stay. You can say that again for the superlative show by the USA and Japan in the women’s World Cup final in Germany has proved wrong the pessimists, including yours truly, who erroneously believe that women are not physically strong enough to engage in such a contact sport like football.

This was a truly fast and thrilling game and the 120 minutes that the game travelled never had a dull moment. Hard tackling, powerful shooting and those classic headers associated with men’s football were all in display in this epic final and you then wonder who came up with this notion that women are a weak sex

This well attended World Cup final was in many respects a fairly balanced game but it won’t be surprising if the purists put USA slightly ahead in terms of football finesse and individual flair.

It won’t be an overstatement if one concluded that the USA had the better chances in regulation time and could have sewn the game if the defence had not been that unduly panicky under pressure.

This is not to take any credit from the Japanese for their undying fighting spirit that saw them coming back twice to save the game. At one stage they chased every ball with such amazing strength that a colleague jokingly remarked   that the young ladies in blue must be examined t o determine the source of their stupendous fighting power.

In a match that saw every player eager to prove why she should win gold, Japanese goalie Ayumi Kaihari in my estimation stood out as the star performer of the night. She made at least three dramatic saves in regulation time and his acrobatic save  with her legs in the first of the penalty shootout really spurred her team on to become the first Asian country to win the women’s World Cup.

Available statistics show that a huge percentage of the players for this year’s World Cup were teenagers spoiling for honours and that accounted for the high standard of competitive play. Thank God that my country Ghana has also seen the light and has restructured the women’s team to embrace the youth.

A lot of attention is now on the youthful Black Princesses and its no wonder that they have been able to eliminate keen rivals Nigeria to qualify for the upcoming Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique in September

The mention of Africa Games calls to mind the ongoing National Sports Festival in Accra aimed at unearthing some talents for Maputo. The last time such a festival was held was 2004.

For whatever purpose the festival has been renamed Unity Games and it is my hope that a useful number of sporting talents will be unearthed to make Ghana’s presence felt at Africa’s biggest sports spectacle in Mozambique.

Ghana has quite a good record in previous Games dating back to Brazzaville 1965; Lagos1973; Algiers 1978; Nairobi 1987;Cairo 1991;Harare 1995; Johannesburg 1999;Abuja 2003 and Algiers 2007.  It is hoped Maputo 2011 will be another success story for Ghana.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports