Maidens advance to play Italy despite loss to Canada
Ghana's Black Maidens failed to beat Canada in their final Group B match, but the they still managed to finish top of their group to book a quarter-final date with Italy.
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The Maidens for the first time in the competition, had to come from behind to earn a 1-2 result against Canada who desperately needed a win to qualify for the quarter-finals.
An ninth minute goal and another one on the 40th minute, set the Canadians on a winning cruise to seal their quarter-final ticket but substitute Sandra Owusu-Ansah pulled one back.
Having beaten North Korea and Germany in the earlier group matches, the result against Canada was good enough to keep them as group winners.
Coach Evans Adotey who made some changes to his starting line, admitted that his charges were complacent against Canada.
“Knowing that we had already qualified, we started slowly compared to the other games, but we gradually came back into the match. Canada caused us problems, even when they went down to ten players. We continued to push for an equaliser, but we just couldn’t manage it. I think that my players need higher stakes to lift their level of play.”
In the other group match, North Korea beat Germany 4-3 in a thrilling encounter, but it was not enough to see the 2012 silver medalists through to the quarter-finals.
The North Koreans had hoped Ghana would have beaten Canada or at least held them to a draw, but the Canadians run away with the three points to qualify ahead of the North Koreans.
This is the first time in the history of the competition that the defending champions (France) failed to qualify while the runners-up (North Korea) failed to go past the group stage.