A member of the FIFA Organising Committee for the Under-20 Women's World Cup, has described as sad and heartbreaking, Ghana's exit from the competition despite claiming six points from their group campaign.
Burundi’s Lydia Nsekera, an executive member of FIFA, and the deputy chairperson of the FIFA Organising Committee for Canada 2014, said Ghana’s
exit was disappointing because they had played well to garner the points they needed to advance.
“Unfortunately, Group A was all about goals and it is sad that they had to be eliminated because they could not score many goals. It is sad, but unfortunately in football, it is always about goals,” Madam Nsekera said in reaction to the Princesses exit from the tournament last Tuesday.
“In such tournaments, it is not only important to play well and exhibit high technical skills, but scoring is the most important as that is always the first consideration when there is a choice to be made. The Ghana team have great prospect and they can take solace in the fact that they have a great future,” Madam Nsekera said.
The Princesses beat Finland 2-1 in their final group game but with Canada also surprising North Korea 1-0, had to bow out from the group stage.
The Ghanaians were let down by the heavy 0-3 loss to North Korea in the second group game, having set themselves on the right path with a 1-0 win against Canada on the opening day.
Fighting from a goal down, in the early stages of the second half, Sherifatu Sumaila and Jennifer Cudjoe got the goals the Princesses needed but Canada's 1-0 win, meant they advanced on better goals.
It is the second time that the Princesses have come so close to a quarter-final berth having gone through a similar experience on their debut in Germany 2010.
Then, they drew 2-2 with the USA, lost 2-4 to South Korea before beating Switzerland 2-0 in the final group game but were eliminated also on inferior goals to South Korea as they both had four points.
While the disappointment in Germany was quickly forgotten, it is likely the pain from the Canada tournament will linger on for a while as both the technical team and the players rue the missed chances.
Returning home yesterday, captain Grace Adams said it was a very painful experience, knowing that “you had done all there was to be done only to realise that it was not enough to make you progress.
“It is one of the painful lessons in football, that at every point, winning alone is not enough, scoring more goals matter the most,” she said.
Coach Bashir Hayford also said: “Our aim was to qualify. We got six points out of nine, which is excellent. But due to the goals we conceded against the goals we scored, we couldn’t advance to the next stage. We have a very promising team. Now we’ll try to qualify for the next tournament and try again to go through.”
