Cafonline
Africa’s hope of having two representatives in the grand finale at the ongoing FIFA U-17 World Cup in Korea , suffered a major blow on Wednesday when Ghana ’s Black Starlets lost 1-2 after extra time to their Spanish counterparts in their semi-final clash.
The defeat was very painful for the Ghanaians as the game was heading for the penalty shootout but for Spain striker Bojan Krkic’s 116th minute strike, which shuttered the West Africans dreams of a record-equaling third title.
The Black Starlets saw a greater part of possession in the keenly contested game, but that was no enough to prevent the European champions from grabbing their first win against the two-time winners at this level.
At the initial stages, striker Sadick Adams and pacy Ishmael Yartey all came closing to breaking the deadlock but saw their kicks missing narrowly with Adams’ edging the closest after he rounded off Spain’s goalie David De Gea only for his left footer to kiss the side net.
Everything pointed to the Ghanaians, but the opener remained elusive as the European giants gradually found their feet but the iron clad defencve built around Phillip Boampong, Paul Addo and Daniel Opare appeared resolute.
The Black Starlets resumed the second half strongly with their quest aided by the introduction of midfielder cum speedster Abeiku Quansah, but it was the Spaniards who laughed first.
In the 67th minute, the Europeans broke the deadlock courtesy Daniel Aquino’s perfect connection to an Iago cross to the surprise of the Starlets rear.
The Ghanaians responded positively but were caught pants down by the Spanish offside traps. With ten minutes to go, Adams beat the offside trap to level up with a powerful strike after being put through by Quansah.
Midfielder Enoch Adu nearly grabbed a late winner for the Starlets but his shot missed narrowly forcing the game into extra time.
After a barren first half, all was pointing to penalties before Bojan, who remained a thorn in the flesh of the Ghanaian defenders scored the match winner from a well rehearsed free-kick. But his celebration was cut short after he was given the marching off orders on the stroke of full time.
Ghana’s coach Sellas Tetteh praised his boys for their wonderful support though he considered a draw will have been a fair result.
“The Spaniards were technically superior to us. We must regroup now and get the third place,” said Tetteh.
