U-20 Women's World Cup qualifiers: Ghana face Senegal in final lap at Kumasi Sunday
The Black Princesses of Ghana will have a date with destiny on Sunday, January 21, 2024, as they seek to grab a historic seventh qualification to the 2024 FIFA Women’s World Cup to be staged in Colombia.
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The Princesses welcome their Senegalese counterparts to the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi for the final lap of the African qualifying series with hope of completing on high note and set the tone for the August 31 -- September 22 women’s football fiesta in Colombia.
The Ghanaians will go into the game with a two-goal advantage from the first leg played at the Stade Lat-Dior in Darkar last Saturday.
Ahead of tomorrow's encounter, Ghana's head coach, Yusif Basigi has said they would leave no room for complacency despite their 2-0 first leg advantage.
The experienced gaffer recognised the high stakes involved, especially against a formidable opponent like Senegal, but he remains hopeful that their early and rigorous preparations provided the right antidote to secure back-to-back victories against their Senegalese opponents and book their tickets to the world event.
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“The game has been good but very tough because the Senegalese are not a bad side at all. In fact, I have a lot of respect for them.
For me I will not conclude anything yet, even though we are two steps ahead of them, we are not going to be complacent so we will not look back,” he said.
“Our dream to qualify for Colombia is to be focused and work extra hard so that we can get there. We created some decent chances that we could have scored.”
Players
Already the team has been training at the Adako Jachie training pitch in Kumasi since they returned from Dakar last Sunday.
Coach Basigi will rely on the sensational striker Tracey Twum, who scored a brace to hand the team the 2-0 numerical advantage in the first leg, as well as the reigning Sports Writers Association of Ghana Footballer of the Year, Comfort Yeboah, to take care of the attacking responsibilities.
The squad, which comprises a blend of foreign-based players and their home-based compatriots, include goalkeepers Afi Amenyaku of Northern Ladies FC and Deborah Brown of Ampem Darkoa Ladies.
Others are Mafia Nyame (AS FAR Ladies), Mary Amponsah (Ampem Darkoa Persis Martha Oteng (Tottenham Hotspurs), Salamatu Abdulai (Swieqi FC), Faiza Seidu (Yanga Princesses), Wasiima Mohammed (Northern Ladies), Success Ameyaa (Hasaacas Ladies), Jennifer Owusuaa (Ampem Darkoa)
The rest are Anoma Abena Opoku (Ampem Darkoa), Abiba Issah (Hasaacas Ladies), Sarah Kilible (Army Ladies), Fatimata Fuseini (Hasaacas Ladies), Faiza Abdul Rashid (Pearlpia Ladies), Comfort Owusu (Hasaacas Ladies), Helen Alormenu (Socrates Ladies) and Beline Nyarkoh (Mfantsiman Royals).
Impressive run
So far, the Black Princesses have been impressive in the qualifiers by winning 6-0 on aggregate against Guinea Bissau in October before recording an 8-1 aggregate over Eswatini in November to reach this third and final stage of the qualifying series which they already boast of a 2-0 advantage.
Ghana have participated in the competition since 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2022 with the team's best performance been finishing at the group stage.
The U-20 FIFA Women's World Cup, enlarged from 16 to 24 teams, will be hosted by Colombia from August 31 to September 22, 2024.
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