Advantage: Black Princess inch closer to World Cup qualification
Ghana's Black Princess of Ghana took a huge step towards the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup after securing a 3-0 win against Ethiopia in the first leg of the final qualifying round at the Abebe Bikila Stadium.
Coach Ben Fokuo's team went into this fixture as favourites and produced a scintillating first half display as the hosts struggled to keep up with Ghana's dominance.
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The Princesses started on a brilliant note and created many scoring chances in the first 15 minutes and almost gained the lead through Grace Anima but her effort came off the crossbar in the 22nd minute. But their anguish was over in the 28th minute when Salamatu Abdulai scored the opening goal after connecting a beautiful pass by Doris Boaduwaa.
Salamatu’s brace
Salamatu was on target again 10 minutes later after a solo run from midfield to increase the tally to 2-0.
The Ethiopians attempted to fight back and created a few scoring chances but were denied a goal by Ghana captain and goalkeeper Cynthia Fiindib.
The Princesses had the game under wraps just before half time as Cecilia Nyama scored Ghana's third goal in the 44th minute.
After recess, Ghana made two substitutions as Ophelia Serwaa Amponsah replaced Suzzy Dede Teye and Cecilia Nyama making way for Maafia Nyame.
Both sides created opportunities but the Ghanaians did enough till the end of the match to preserve their massive lead after botched attempts to add more.
For Coach Fokuo, his team will go into the return fixture with all the seriousness it deserves.
“We are going to continue with our preparations as usual. We won away by 3 goals but we won’t underrate our opponents. We will go all out in the return fixture in Ghana and hopefully get all the maximum points,” he said.
The return fixture will be played at the Cape Coast Stadium in a fortnight, with the winner qualifying for the U-20 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica in August.
