Ghana coach, Paa Kwesi Fabin, has refused to admit that his side’s play has fallen ahead of the 2017 Africa Under-17 Cup of Nations final with Mali on Sunday.
The Black Starlets are set to face their West African counterparts at the Stade de l’Amitié Sino Gabonaise in Libreville, to climax the two-week tournament.
After scoring nine goals in their first two matches, Ghana have drawn blank in the last two games, prompting concerns that the Black Starlets’ performance may have fallen too early.
“We all know about economics and law of diminishing return; and after playing at high tempo in the first two matches and won against Cameroon and Gabon, it was natural that the boys were a bit tired especially since they don’t have long time for recovery,” Fabin told Cafonline.
“We have not diminished technically because even when we lost the vigour, our techniques has seen us through.
“The vigour and hunger will come again against Mali because the trophy is at stake; we are going to raise the vigour on Sunday.”
Ghana humiliated Cameroon 4-0 in their group opener before whitewashing hosts Gabon 5-0.
The Black Starlets then settled for a goalless stalemate with Guinea in the last group game, after which they beat Niger 6-5 on penalties following a barren draw after 90 minutes.
“Unfortunately, I’m not going to reveal anything about what we are going to do against Mali. I have watched them and I’m sure they also have watched us, so we must expect a very good game,” Fabin said.
“There would be two results; either you win or lose, gold or silver but what I want to promise is that we are going to showcase a very good African football so that the world will know that very soon, an African team can win the senior World Cup.”
Ghana are seeking to win the competition for the third time after victories in 1995 and 1999.
Starting 11
Danlad Ibrahim, Najeeb Yakubu, Gideon Acquah, John Out, Abdul Razak Yusif, Faisal Osman, Gabriel Leveh, Mohammed Iddriss, Eric Ayiah =captain, Emmanuel Toku, Rashiid Alhassan
Source goal.com