Female supporters who wish to watch the Ghana vs Ethiopia match at the Accra Sports Stadium this afternoon are to use the Conference Centre gate for free entry, according to the GFA.
The African qualifiers for the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup, Costa Rica 2022, reaches the final stage, with Ghana and Ethiopia locking horns in a crucial battle at the Accra Sports Stadium in Accra on Sunday, March 27, 2022.
The Black Princesses are looking to book a ticket to the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup to be staged in Costa Rica in August, 2022. Meanwhile, dreaming of the first ever U20 Women’s World Cup debut, Ethiopia must bounce back from a 3-0 first leg loss, while Ghana will look to seal a sixth consecutive spot on the global stage.
The winner on aggregate will qualify for the U20 Women’s World Cup as the second African representative after Nigeria qualified in Benin City on Saturday, thrashing Senegal 7-2 on aggregate.
This would be the fourth meeting between these two nations. The previous three meetings had seen the Ghanaians claim two [2-0 and 3-0] wins while the other game ended in a [2-2] draw. This time around, it’s a final battle to secure the second ticket to the international youth tournament.
Players to Watch
Bagabaga Ladies striker, Salamatu Abdulai, will be one of the stars to look out for after grabbing a brace in the first leg in Abebe Bikila Stadium. Aside Abdulai, Jafaru Rahama and Doris Boaduwaa, who helped Hasaacas Ladies to win the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Champions League silver medal, are likely to feature in the fixture.
On the other hand, the Ethiopians will be counting on the availability of Araiet Odong, Turist Lemma and Mesay Temesgen to cause an upset in Accra later this afternoon. With two goals each in the competition, the trio can cause trouble for the Black Princesses.
Both sides will miss the services of some key players in the second leg game today. Ghana will still be forced to make do without captain Evelyn Badu and Perpetual Agyekum, who are enjoying their debut seasons in Norway after missing the first leg in Addis Ababa. Both will be key absentees for the Ghanaians. On the other hand, the East Africans will again miss the services of the tournament’s top scorer, Rediet Assresahagn, who has scored seven goals in the qualifiers so far due to injury.
Both teams target qualification
Ghana’s U20 women’s head coach, Ben Forkuo, said his team is fully prepared for the encounter and as such, appealed to all Ghanaians to come to the stadium to cheer the Black Princesses to victory.
“I feel happy because for years now, the Princesses have been qualifying to the World Cup and this won’t be any different. We are happy to make history again [on Sunday]. The Players and Technical team are ready for the game. We thank the Ghana Football Association and the Government for their support throughout the qualifying campaign. We urge all Ghanaians to come to support us for the last hurdle to make it to Costa Rica”.
Ben Forkuo
Firew Hailegebral, U20 women’s head coach of Ethiopia, said his team spent the last two weeks to prepare well for the second leg because “the defeat made us think we could do more”.
“We lost 3-0, but this is not the final result. I explained to my players the process of reversing the result. Football has it’s up and down moments, big teams also concede goals, we have to recover quickly and be back on track to victory. I have talked with my players about the possibility of changing the result; we have completed our good preparation for the trip to Ghana. Our players have never been here as only some of them are experienced”.
Firew Hailegebra
Hailegebral said his team made a lot of mistakes in the first leg match and could not take the chances even though it created better scoring opportunities than Ghana. The Coach acknowledged that Ghana was better at taking the chances but he believes, his team is well prepared to win the second leg game.
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