Starlets eye World Cup spot

Ghana’s Black Starlets are a win away from making the semi-finals of the ongoing Africa U-17 Cup of Nations when they lock horns with hosts Gabon at the Stade de Port-Gentil later today.

After thrashing giants Cameroun 4-0 in their opening game last Sunday, the Starlets will automatically qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup to be staged in India in October if they beat Gabon.

Hosts Gabon will be in for a fierce battle when they come up with the Starlets having been wounded in their first game against Guinea in which they lost 1-5.

Knowing a loss against the Ghanaians will end their campaign, Gabon will hope to put up a solid performance in an attempt to stand a chance of making the next stage of the competition when they play Cameroun in the last game.

“We are going to approach the match against Gabon with all the seriousness like we did against Cameroun because there are no minnows in African football. We are not going to relax against Gabon but show the same attitude and alertness as we did against Cameroun. Gabon is not going to be a cheap team and we are not going to underrate them,” Starlets coach, Paa Kwesi Fabin said at yesterday’s pre-match press conference.

Fabin is likely to maintain his squad that played against Cameroun with the players such as skipper Eric Ayiah, Ibrahim Sulley, Najeeb Yakubu, Rashid Alhassan, Faisal Osman, Abdul Razak Yusif, Mohammed Iddris, Emmanuel Toku, Gabriel Leveh and Edmund Arko-Mensah all available for selection.

In the other Group A match today, Guinea will square up against Cameroun at the same venue in Port Gentil.