Ghana’s Black Starlets will today battle the Sparrow Hawks of Togo at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium in the ongoing WAFU Zone B U-17 qualifiers in Ghana.
Ghana suffered a 4-2 defeat to the Young Eaglets of Nigeria in their Group B opener on Saturday against the Golden Eaglets.
Goals from Emmanuel Michael, Precious William, Light Eke and Jubril Azeez were enough for the Nigerians whilst Ghana scored twice through Abdoul Razak Salifou and Collins Agyapong
That result has threatened Ghana’s chances of progressing to the semi-final stage of the competition and find themselves in a must-win situation.
But the Black Starlets would be motivated to defeat the Sparrow Hawks to not only progress but establish their dominance over them.
Group leaders Nigeria defeated the Togolese 3-1 on Tuesday to put them through to the next stage of the competition with six points.
Togo and Ghana are yet to record a point, leaving either of the two teams to pick the group’s other semi-final slot.
The Sparrow Hawks would be out to deepen the woes of the hosts who failed to qualify in the previous edition (2019) as a victory will see them join Nigeria to the next stage of the competition.
This will surely put Coach Paa Kwesi Fabin and his charges under pressure but at this level, they have the character to deliver on such intimidating circumstances.
The team had their last training session yesterday and the two finalists from this tournament will represent West Africa in next year’s African Cup of Nations U-17 in March.
BY LINUS SIAW NARTEY
