Nora Hauptle applauds team's grit despite heartbreaking Olympic qualifier exit

Nora Hauptle, the head coach of the Black Queens, has praised her team for their determined performance in the second leg of the Women's Olympic Games third-round qualifier against the Copper Queens of Zambia on Wednesday.

Despite being reduced to 10 players in the 96th minute, Ghana conceded in added time and crashed out of the

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Jennifer Cudjoe received a second yellow card and was sent off.

Nora Häuptle said, "My team showed great courage, played football with determination, and fought hard, so I can't blame them at all. Sometimes things are difficult."

She added, "They scored a free kick and got the red card in the last minute. We would have liked to have gone into overtime, but overall it's disappointing for us. However, Zambia deserves credit."

The Black Queens won the first leg against the Copper Queens 1-0 and fought for a 3-3 draw, but Zambia advanced with a 4-3 aggregate score.