Maidens won’t ease up against Canada
The Black Maidens, Ghana's Under-17 female football team are on a mission at the FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup in Costa Rica, and are in no mood to allow Canada to derail their plans.
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Two wins from two crucial games against North Korea and Germany in Group B have handed the Maidens a place in the quarter-finals so they can afford to relax against Canada in their final group match tonight.
But this does not seem to be part of their game plan for Costa Rica as they have indicated their desire to go all out and play against Canada as if their campaign has just begun.
"We came to Costa Rica to give a strong message. That winning bronze in Azerbaijan in 2012 was no fluke. We are aiming for the gold and to achieve that, we have to conquer all who come our way," is the message head coach Evans Adotey gave when asked if the Maidens will take things easy in their final group game with qualification already sealed.
"We are excited that our dream of picking an early ticket to the quarter-finals has come to pass but that is not the end of the dream. We want more and we will go for it against Canada."
Coming into this competition, the Maidens were expected to have a very tough challenge as
they faced two significant heavyweights in women's football — North Korea, winners of the maiden event in New Zealand in 2008 and also runners-up at the 2012 tournament in Azerbaijan, and Germany, bronze medalists in 2008.
However, the Maidens have forced the bookmakers to revise their notes, convincing beating North Korea 2-0 in the first game and followed it up with a 1-0 win against Germany, a similar scoreline that helped them to beat the Europeans for the bronze medal in 2012.
Against Canada, the young Ghanaian ladies will have to show more resilience as the Canadians are unpredictable.
Technically they look very organised but the fact that they have conceded as many goals as they have scored make their defence suspect.
Against Germany, they took the lead but allowed the Germans to equalise in their 2-2 result, while they had to fight hard to draw 1-1 against North Korea in their second match.
For the Maidens, they have so far proved that experience does count in football. Playing with as many as 11 players who participated in the Azerbaijan tournament, they have also shown maturity in their game and have not just done what is important, but also played excitingly too.
In this game, they need not change their game plan. They have to maintain the tight defence and compact midfield as they have done so far. Playing the ball on the turf, moving in to defend when necessary and attacking when the time is right.
Jane Ayieyam, Gladys Amfobea and Sandra Owusu-Ansah have all got their names on the scoresheet and they are hungry for more. Hopefully, if they remain tactically discplined as they have done, they should have more goals.