Ghana powers African challenge at World Youth tournament

Accra (Greater Accra) 20^th November 99,

Ghana emerged the lone ranger for Africa at the on-going World Youth soccer tournament in New Zealand when Mali and Burkina Faso were kicked out in the preliminary rounds

After their 0-0 draw with Brazil in their second outing, Mali surprisingly succumbed to Australia, losing painfully by a lone goal, which left them at bottom place of their group. Burkina Faso also crashed out when they lost 1-2 to Qatar in their final match to push them to third place behind Paraguay and Qatar.

Ghana’s Black Starlets however exhibited their scoring potency when they hit target 12 times making them not only tops of Group B but also the team with the highest number of goals at the preliminary stage. After drawing one all with Spain in what should have been their first win, the Starlets went on the rampage and demolished Mexico 4-0 while Thailand received a 7-1 thrashing. 

With the USA, Uruguay, Ghana, Mexico, Australia, Brazil, Paraguay and Qatar through to the quarterfinals, Europe is totally out of title contention. Qatar, Ghana and Australia are the title hopefuls for Asia, Africa and Oceania respectively. The rest of the teams, namely USA, Uruguay, Mexico, Brazil and Paraguay belong to the Americas.

Of the remaining countries it is Ghana and Brazil who have ever tasted championship glory at this stage of soccer. Brazil are the current champions, having dethroned Ghana who ruled the world in 1995. In 1991 Nii Odartey Lamptey led a group of talents of the globular leather to annex the title for the first time for Ghana. FIFA ratings before the tournament tipped Brazil, Spain and Ghana in that order as favourites to win the trophy. But Spain surprisingly, was shown the exit by less fancied Mexico who dished them a painful 1-0 in Group B to qualify alongside Ghana, leaving the race a straight one between Ghana and Brazil.

Looking at the performance of Ghana and Brazil in the preliminary level, it looks certain that Ghana has a more potent team that could determine the course of a game and hence have a better chance of winning.

Except for their match against Spain in which the Starlets had their backs pinned to the wall for the better part of the second half, a situation which head coach Jones Attuquayefio attribute to jet-lag, they have exhibited complete dominance in the matches that followed. Against Mexico who were psychologically advantaged from the 4-0 spanking that they handed to Thailand, the Starlets reduced them to an ordinary side as they came out tactically superior. They dribbled past the Mexicans with ease and dented their pride with the massive 4-0 score. In the Thais, not much challenge was anticipated yet the seven goals netted by Starlets was the heaviest and spoke volumes of how devastating their attacking line up could be.

In Brazil however, the South Americans have managed with just two goals from two matches. An indication of how goal shy their attackers are. They were just lucky to have been left off hook by Mali who had 70 per cent of their game against them but simply failed to score to leave the match barren after full time. At the tough knockout stage Brazil will definitely find the going tough if they should stick to their current play and it will not be a surprise if they do not last the whole journey.

It is difficult to predict which of the remaining teams could match the Ghana machine as the knockout stage takes off. Even though Qatar is an old foe while the U.S.A. have persistently appeared in the championships they cannot be regarded as real threats to the Starlets since none of them have the experience to play beyond the quarterfinals.

Trust therefore to see another African triumph at the World Under – 17 which has seen the closing decade as a reign for African soccer.

Below are the table and qualifiers at the end of preliminary matches.

Teams P W D L F A Pts P W D L F A Pts

Group A Group B

USA 3 2 1 0 4 2 7 Ghana 3 2 1 0 12 2 7

N. Zealand 3 1 0 2 3 8 3 Spain 3 1 1 1 7 2 4

Poland 3 0 2 1 3 4 2 Thailand 3 0 0 3 1 17 0

Group C P W D L F A Pts Group D P W D L F A Pts

Australia 3 2 0 1 4 3 6 Paraguay 3 2 1 0 9 2 7

Brazil 3 1 2 0 3 1 5 Qatar 3 2 0 1 6 3 6

Germany 3 0 2 1 1 2 2 B. Faso 3 1 1 1 4 4 4

Mali 3 0 2 1 0 1 2 Jamaica 3 0 0 3 0 10 0

NB: The first two teams in each group qualified to for the quarter finals.

Meanwhile the goalking race has become keen after the first three matches with three Ghanaians in contention for the Golden Boot award. Ibrahim Attiku, Ishmael Addo and Bernard Don Bortey have each scored three goals to push them into second place after Qatar’s Rasoul Waleed who leads with four goals. Attiku scored Starlets only goal in their match with Spain and netted twice against Mexico. Addo and Bortey registered hat-tricks in Starlets 7-1 win over Thailand.

In all, 66 goals were scored in the 24-match of the preliminary stage giving an average of 2.75 goals per match.

GRi