Maidens 'spell' Tunisia

Sherifatu Semaila - Maidens Captain

National female football Under-17 team coach, Abrahams Allotey, believes his charges have already booked their way to a second successive Women’s World Cup (WWC) after a convincing win against their Tunisian counterparts.

Seven unanswered goals against the Tunisians in the first of their two-leg qualifer played at the Ohene Djan Stadium has given the Maidens the strongest edge to pick the ticket to the tournament to be staged in Trinidad and Tobago in September.

Though Coach Allotey had plotted a win that would ease the pressure on his team in the return leg in Tunis in two weeks, he was himself surprised by the manner in which his charges carried out instructions and dutifully spelt out Tunisia (beat them 7-0) and in the process dashed any hope the North Africans to staging a comeback.

The scoreline may not have surprised many as the Maidens who, in their first attempt at qualifying for the WWC put up similar performances, but the quality of play and the performance of the players, who were playing their very first game in this year’s qualifiers, suprised many.

The team is not reliant on one or two players to get the goals. Apart from the defenders who were instructed not to leave their back unprotected, almost all the other players could hunt for goals.

And for Coach Allotey who masterminded the Maidens’ first appearance at the WWC in New Zealand two years ago, nothing his players did against the Tunisians last Saturday surprised him.

“Right from the start, I knew the girls were hungry for success and understanding the intrigues in playing away matches, they were not prepared to risk any chances, hence their resolve to just go for the goals, and at the end it worked to plan.

“As many as eight of the girls missed the opportunity when the Maidens were assembled for the New Zealand tournament two years ago, so there was no way they were going to let this chance also slip by. They did not only go for the goals, they also showed quality play despite this match being their very first this season,” an elated Coach Allotey told the Graphic Sports in an interview.

With goalkeeper Margaret Otoo and midfielder Ellen Coleman, the youngest player to have featured in the 2008 WWC on parade, the Maidens looked streets ahead of the Tunisians who had hoped to avert another loss at the hands of Ghana just months after their seniors, the Under-20 side, had suffered a similar fate.

However, the North Africans had no escape as the Maidens descended on them, scoring three goals in the first half and wrapping up the second with four more goals.

Sherifatu Sumaila started the goal-haul with Alice Eva Danso netting a brace before half-time.

Mary Essilful who also missed a place in the 2008 squad, in the early stages of the second half increased the tally to four.

Substitute Rita Okyere hit a hat-trick when she came on for Felicia Djabaah to keep the plan for a second successive appearance at the WWC on course and effectively dimming any hope for the Tunisians who host the second leg in two weeks.