Ghana U-17 Women’s team, the Black Maidens will on Saturday, October 1 begin their quest for gold in the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Jordan.
The Maidens have the bragging rights of being the only African side to have reached the semi-finals of the World Cup after winning bronze in 2012.
Coach Augustine Evans Adottey knows the difficult task ahead of him after being grouped together with defending champions Japan, USA and Paraguay and has set an initial target for the team as they intend to get to get to the second round of the competition.
“Looking at Japan as the defending champions, I have respect for them but at the same time I need to find out ways and means to ensure I stay out of defeat; that is my first priority. We are meeting USA in the second encounter. I want to see Ghana qualify to the second round so the defeat of these two sides is my priority”
Ghana will play Japan at the Prince Mohammed Stadium in Zarqa at 16:00 GMT in the opening game at the tournament after which they will prepare for their second game with the USA on Tuesday, 4th October 2016 at the King Abdullah Stadium in Amman at 16:00 GMT.
Their third team will be against a side that is yet to win a game in their two outings at the tournament (2008 and 2014); Paraguay on 8th October at Al-Hassan Stadium in Irbid at 19:00 GMT.
Assistant Captain of the team Rafia Alhassan says the team will want to reach the medal zone.
“Everybody is happy and we are well prepared for Saturday’s game. Our target is to be in the medal zone because we strongly believe that when we get to the medal zone, we will get to the trophy”.
The national U-17 female team qualified to their 5th straight World Cup appearance after a 10-0 aggregate win over Morocco in the final qualifying match.
The 2016 competition will end on October 21 2016.
Take a look at the performances of the four teams in Group D at the previous tournaments:
GHANA
2008 – Group Stage
2010 – Group Stage
2012 – 3rd Place
2014 – Quarter-finals
JAPAN
2008 – Quarterfinals
2010 – Runners Up
2012 – Quarterfinals
2014 – Champions
USA
2008 – Runners Up
2010 – Did not qualify
2012 – Group Stage
2014 – Did not qualify
PARAGUAY
2008 – Group Stage
2010 – Did not qualify
2012 – Did not qualify
2014 – Group Stage
