Much at stake in African Women's Championship semifinals

While their men's teams have had contrasting fortunes during their African Nations' Cup (ANC) qualifying campaigns, the women's teams of Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon and Ivory Coast are all in the same boat at the ongoing African Women's Championship (AWC) in Namibia. The quartet will contest the semifinals on Wednesday and Thursday this week.

Nigeria will be looking to restore national pride after their men's team, who are defending their continental title, found themselves all but out of contention to play in next year's event. South Africa will simply want to continue on the upward trend following Bafana Bafana's upsurge in form under Shakes Mashaba which has them at the top of their qualifying pool.

Similarly Cameroon's Indomitable Lionesses will want to mirror the Lions, who lead their group while the Ivorian women will hope to take attention off Herve Renard and his team, who are second from the bottom in their mini-league.

Whichever one of these women's teams take home the trophy, their performance will either complement or cover up for their men -- the latter at least for a few days -- which is why Nigeria's men will be pleased that their team remain the favourites to go all the way.

Nigeria are record six-time champions and have a strong World Cup pedigree. They are the only African women's team to have played in every Women's World Cup since its inception in 1991 and all indications are that they will continue that trend.

Women's football continues to grow robustly in Nigeria, particularly at one club in the River State, Rivers' Angels. Eleven of the current squad are from that club, including Asisat Oshoala, who was the top scorer at the recent under-20 women's World Cup, where Nigeria finished as losing finalists for the second time.

She will be up against a South African striker who celebrated a milestone in the team's final group game against Algeria, which they won 5-1. Portia Modise netted twice in the match to take her international goal tally to 100.

Only 12 women and one man have scored a century in goals but Modise is the first African. She took just 117 matches over the span of a 14-year career to achieve the feat. For all her accolades, Modise has yet to play at a World Cup but a top-three finish for South Africa will change that.

That means even if South Africa lose to Nigeria in the semis, they would still have something to play for in the third-place playoff. If that is the case, South Africa would probably far rather face Ivory Coast than Cameroon. Not only did they beat the Ivorians 2-1 in a friendly at the end of last month, but they lost to Cameroon in the group stage of this tournament.

Neither West African side will have that on their minds just yet. Ivory Coast and Cameroon play each other in what is expected to be a physically tough encounter. Cameroon have an added incentive to ensure their progression to the final and ultimately gain continental glory.

"Our mission of being in Namibia is to compete and win the championship because in 2016, Cameroon will host this tournament, and we would love to defend it in our own country," their coach Enow Ngachu explained.

The Ivorians have already put paid to one host team's successful run in their own tournament. They beat Namibia 3-1 to dump them out of the competition, but their own run has been inconsistent. Ivory Coast lost 4-2 to Nigeria in the group stage and drew with Zambia in their final match, which may leave Cameroon believing they have the advantage come the knockout.